Chile court strips Pinochet of immunity

AP ^ | 9/14/5

[SmithL]

SANTIAGO, Chile - The Supreme Court stripped Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution Wednesday, paving the way for an eventual trial of the former dictator in a human rights case involving the killing of 119 dissidents.

The court voted 10-6 to strip the 89-year-old of former ruler of the immunity from prosecution he enjoys as former president, Chief Justice Jose Benquis said.

The ruling, which cannot be appealed involves the 1975 killing of 119 dissidents whose bodies were found in neighboring Argentina.

The Pinochet regime at the time said the victims had died in clashes among rival armed opposition groups.

[Uncle Joe Cannon]

Am I imagining things, or have I seen this same story printed about 15 to 20 different times?

[Gay State Conservative]

paving the way for an eventual trial of the former dictator in a human rights case involving the killing of 119 dissidents.

My thesaurus doesn't list "dissident" as a synonym for "Communist".What gives here?

[WoofDog123]

you gotta figure this for a lot of folks is like the byron de la beckwith trial in MS, where many are just hoping he dies and puts the matter to rest.

[Old North State]

This is bad business. Whatever Pinochet's sins, he stepped aside for democracy. No dictator is likely to do so in the future if he knows he or she is not beyond the reach of political enemies.

[wideawake]

I don't understand why Chile is so intent on destroying the man who saved it.

[tarheelswamprat]

I don't understand why Chile is so intent on destroying the man who saved it.

It's not "Chile", it's the current crop of Leftists who are currently in power. This is about re-writing history. Pinochet handed the communists a resounding defeat years ago and they, aided by their allies of the International Left, are determined to shame and humiliate him for the record, before he dies.

That they are renegeing on the immunity agreement of decades ago for Pinochet shows the folly of ever trusting leftists to abide by any agreement.

[WoofDog123]

I don't think it is so black and white to the people there as it is to us here. Anytime someone establishes a police state with secret police, disappearing people, etc., a lot of folks are going to want his head on a plate later. All we see if the viewpoint of the long-term impact on the country politically and economically, whereas chileans actually lived under it.

that said, i don't know what % of chileans who were adults during his regime support this, i have;n't seen any numbers like that.

[Mount Athos]

Chile is doing great in South America, what other country is doing anywhere near as well?

A big part of why is because Pinochet crushed the communists so thoroughly. I guess the younger generation doesn't understand what he did for them.

[tanuki]

The limousine lefties down there will get theirs. Once Chavez and his tool Morales start squeezing their energy supplies. They'll have to react, and then their true colors will be there for all the world to see. Hypocrites and cowards the whole lot.

[Question_Assumptions]

What always amazes me about Pinochet is that he's one of the worst bogeymen that the left have to offer about right-wing interference in the affairs of other countries. So what's the worst they can say about him? That he killed maybe 3,000 people unjustly. Democrats, on the other hand, can support the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam (at least 100,000 dead -- a bit higher than the young John Kerry's estimate of 5,000) and cut off funding to Lon Nol's governent in Cambodia so the Khmer Rouge could take over (about a third of that country died as a result). That's not even going into their support of the Soviet Union or those "little red books" written by Mao that they used to carry around. Their chutzpah at pointing out the splinter in someone else's eye when they've got planks aplenty in their own is simply stunning.