SUNS  4334 Monday 30 November 1998



UNITED STATES: RIGHTS GROUPS CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST PINOCHET

Washington, Nov 26 (IPS/Michael Keats) -- Human rights advocates Thursday stepped up pressure on the U.S. government to join international moves to bring former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to justice for alleged crimes against humanity.

Reacting to the decision by Britain's House of Lords to reject immunity for Pinochet, the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights called on the Clinton administration to follow Spain's lead by announcing its commitment to investigate and prosecute human rights violators who arrive on American soil.

Britain's highest court ruled Wednesday that the 83-year-old Pinochet did not enjoy immunity - "a ground-breaking judgement with consequences far beyond Chile," said Michael Posner, executive director of the Lawyers Committee. The British judgement opened the way for the possible extradition of Pinochet to Spain for trial on charges of crimes against humanity. "To those who would commit future crimes, it signals that immunity is limited and that a price for murder, torture
and other atrocities will be paid," Posner said.

The Lawyers Committee urged the United States and other governments to extend all possible assistance to Spanish prosecutors who intended mounting the case against Pinochet.

Under a 1994 US law, federal criminal courts can prosecute foreign nationals for acts of torture committed outside the United States if they physically are present in the country, but they have never done so. "The threat of prosecution is key to any strategy of deterrence," said Posner,"the United States should play a leading role in this evolving area."

In Washington meanwhile, administration spokesmen said only that while officials were "studying" the British decision, Pinochet's extradition was a matter for Britain, Spain and Chile to determine.

Rights advocates, however, insisted the new developments presented an opportunity to push for a resolution of the Sept. 1976 car bombing in Washington that killed Orlando Letelier, a leading Chilean opponent of Pinochet's coup in 1973. A 25-yearold American, Ronni Karpen Moffitt, also died in the blast. Her husband Michael, who was in the car at the time of the bombing, survived the attack. All were working with the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank.

"We're asking the U.S. government to make all the records about Pinochet available to the Spanish court and to open up the question of Pinochet's responsibility in the killings of Letelier and Moffitt,"
said the Institute's co-founder, Marcus Raskin.

Sam Buffone, a Washington lawyer who helped win a civil suit against the Chilean government on behalf of the families of Letelier and Moffitt, said the British decision showed that Pinochet was "not above the law and must answer to the charges against him." He said the United States "should now move quickly to declassify and produce all evidence in its possession and relevant to the charges against the former dictator."

Buffone pointed out that the United States had requested that Italy extradite Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan to Turkey to stand trial. "Pinochet's case requires similar treatment," he said.

A State department spokesman said that "hundreds" of documents had already been turned over in response to Spanish requests and that the United States would continue to cooperate with Spain's investigations.

Congressman George Miller, a Californian Democrat, said however that he was concerned many documents were being withheld - including reports by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA.

In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno this week, Miller urged "greater responsiveness" from the government. He said the government should make available to Spanish investigators, a former U.S. operative of the Chilean secret police, Michael Townley, who was convicted of involvement in the 1976 car bombing and went into the federal Witness Protection Programme after his release from prison.

"It's pretty clear that there are many people within the administration who were hoping all this would just go away," Miller said of the efforts by Spain to put Pinochet on trial. The British ruling made this
unlikely and "I don't think (the administration) can be part of the conspiracy to continue to shield Gen. Pinochet," he added.

Along with Spain, France and Switzerland also have sought Pinochet's extradition for the deaths and disappearances of more than 3,000 people during his 17-year rule. Other countries have expressed support for such a trial as have the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

This raised "serious questions" as to why the United States was not joining other countries in seeking Pinochet's extradition, said Peter Weiss, vice president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights.

Weiss said he believed the United States was "a little embarrassed by the role it played in the Pinochet coup and by its continued support for him even after his crimes became known to the whole world."

Another rights group, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, went further, declaring that Washington had missed an opportunity to push for the prosecution of a man who "ordered the deaths of a half-dozen Americans" from 1973-1976.

"Washington's lack of interest in this case has been simply shocking, as its lack of moral leadership in the entire Pinochet debate," the Council said.