Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Pinochet--Otra Vez

Augusto Pinochet has once again been stripped of immunity raising the possibility that he might finally be prosecuted for human rights abuses committed while he ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. The ruling by the Court of Appeals in Santiago involves "Operation Colombo" in which 119 dissidents were killed by the regime.

The court's ruling was limited to the narrow question of whether Pinochet's immunity as a former president protected him from prosecution in this case. An appeal to the Chilean Supreme Court remains a possibility.