Pinochet stripped of immunity in car bombing case

An appeals court today stripped former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution for a 1974 car bombing that killed an exiled general.

It was the third attempt to try Pinochet in Chile for abuses from his 17-year dictatorship.

Santiago’s Court of Appeals decided 14-9 to lift the immunity Pinochet enjoys as a former president in connection with the bombing in Argentina that killed former army chief General Carlos Prats, and his wife, Sofia Cuthbert. General Prats had opposed the 1973 coup that put Pinochet in power until 1990.

Juan Gonzalez, the head of the appeals court, said the panel deliberated two hours before taking its vote. He did not provide details.

However, Pinochet will appeal the ruling with the Supreme Court, said defence lawyer Fernando Rabat, “because the general’s health does not allow him to stand trial”.

Lawyer Pamela Pereira, who represents the three daughters of General Prats and his wife, said they hoped the decision would be upheld and allow prosecution to go forward.

“This is going to allow us to really establish responsibility” for the bombing, Ms Pereira said.

Pinochet already faces the prospect of a trial in another case brought on behalf of victims of “Operation Condor”, a crackdown on dissenters by several South American dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s. His immunity in that case was stripped in August by the Supreme Court.

A third case in which his immunity was stripped, in 2001, was not successful. Prosecutors had sought to try him for the deaths of 75 political prisoners, but the charges were dropped because of his health problems.

An attempt by a Spanish judge to try Pinochet also was dismissed for health reasons. British authorities allowed Pinochet to return to Chile in 2000 after being detained in London for 503 days on a warrant by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who wanted to extradite and try him on human rights charges.

In the latest case, a powerful bomb destroyed the car and killed General Prats and his wife on September 30, 1974 in Buenos Aires.

Prats was head of Chile’s army during the final months of leftist Salvador Allende’s ill-fated presidency, which ended in a September 1973 coup. Pinochet succeeded General Prats in the post, forcing him into exile in Argentina.

In Argentina, a former Chilean agent of the dictatorship, Enrique Arancibia Clavel, was found guilty in 2000 of the planning the military-era car bombing.

Prosecutors described Arancibia Clavel as a former agent of DINA, the notorious secret police established during the Pinochet dictatorship