Pinochet's health crisis could derail trials
Source: Reuters
By Fiona Ortiz SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The latest health crisis for Chile's aging former dictator, Augusto Pinochet, means dozens of human rights abuse and tax fraud cases against him will probably never be concluded, dashing hopes of opponents who wanted to see him brought to justice. Pinochet, 91 and ailing for years, had a heart attack at the weekend and was in serious condition on Monday after surgery to open an artery. His family said it was a miracle he did not die and doctors said he would stay in hospital at least 10 days. Pinochet, a retired general who ruled from 1973-1990 and is the best known of a generation of Latin American strongmen, faces dozens of human rights charges and is also accused of embezzlement related to $28 million he hid off-shore. But his defense team has long argued he is too ill -- he has diabetes, heart problems and frequent mini-strokes have caused mild dementia -- to face charges. "I know he's suffering and I don't wish him any harm, but I'm sorry that we haven't seen true justice. I'm tired of waiting for justice," said Arturo Rosas, 62, a socialist who lost his job as a school teacher and was forced into exile for seven years after the 1973 military coup that launched Pinochet's military rule. Chile's slow-moving judicial system does not involve open hearings. Trials are conducted on paper by judges who act as prosecutor, investigator and jury. Although several judges came close to convicting Pinochet on different charges in the past four years, higher courts threw some cases out on grounds of ill health. LONDON ARREST OPENED WAY FOR PROBES Pinochet stepped down in 1990 and as the country made a transition to democracy, the former dictator remained untouchable and feared in Chile until his 1998 arrest in London on an international arrest warrant for human rights crimes. Britain sent Pinochet home after 17 months but the arrest emboldened Chilean judges who began their own investigations into assassinations of political opponents and tens of thousands of torture cases. Pinochet was placed under house arrest just last week, charged with masterminding the murders of two guards of former Marxist President Salvador Allende in 1973, at a time of hundreds of political killings. He has been arrested several times since 2000 and every time he has been released on appeal, which is what happened again on Monday while he was still in the hospital. "Each time he's indicted, he's urgently sent to hospital. A strange coincidence. There are people who say it may be a strategy," said ethics professor Pablo Salvat from Alberto Hurtado University. "If you have a certain type of social conscience you'd like him to be alive and in good shape to face trial." Many Chileans say they are not sure what to make of Pinochet's frequent hospitalizations. "I just don't know whether to believe he's in serious condition or not. He gets bad every time a case builds up against him," said 18-year-old student Tanya Fuenzalida. "If he dies, it will be a relief for him, he'll escape all the trials." Meanwhile in recent years, Pinochet has lost support even among admirers of his anti-Marxist crusade and his free-market economic policies, who question his wealth. Some Pinochet supporters agree that the former strongman needs to answer for his mistakes. Eliana Zamora, a 68-year-old housewife, said Pinochet did the right thing when he ousted Allende in 1973 and imposed order on the country. "But in the end he's a human being who has to pay the consequences. Everyone makes mistakes and he has to respond for his errors," Zamora said.
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