REACTION TO JACK STRAWÃŒS STATEMENT

Amnesty International has always stressed that the case

must be subject to a fair and proper legal process.

Pinochet has the right all legal mechanisms available,

including evidence about his fitness to face extradition.

However, Amnesty International is alarmed that Jack

Straw has indicated that he will make his decision on

extraditing Augusto Pinochet on the basis of secret

medical evidence, that has not been shown to other

parties in the proceedings, with no proper judicial

supervision. Other parties to the proceedings have been

invited by the Home Secretary to make representations

about evidence that they have not even been allowed to

see.

The medical findings should have been subject to

judicial supervision in a transparent process in which

the prosecution should have been permitted to

participate. Amnesty International is discussing the

legal implications of the decision with its lawyers.

This case remains a ground-breaking international legal

precedent, due to the House of Lordsí decision that

Pinochet and other former heads of state cannot claim

immunity if charged with crimes against humanity.