AUGUSTO PINOCHET

Summary

That this House notes that on 30th January, the respected Spanish newspaper El Pais published the text of letters exchanged between the Home Office and Augusto Pinochet's lawyers from November 1999 onwards, and that these letters confirm that, despite being under no legal obligation to make such an offer, the Home Office proposed on its own initiative that Augusto Pinochet's medical details be kept secret before they received any such request from his lawyers; further notes that his lawyers informed the Home Office that their client issued them with detailed instructions about the terms under which he would submit to medical examination in November 1999 after he had allegedly suffered a major deterioration rendering him unable to prepare for trial, that, contrary to procedures adopted in previous extradition cases, the Home Office suggested General Pinochet's own British and Chilean doctors could attend his 5th January medical examination, and that the Home Office supplied him in advance with the complete list of questions they asked the independent medical team to ascertain, including queries about his ability to recall events in the 1970s; notes also that apparent loss of memory in this respect is notoriously easy to fake and that the torture offences upon which his extradition is sought occurred in the late 1980s; and therefore calls upon the Home Secretary to request that Augusto Pinochet, attend a fresh medical examination at which observers for the governments of Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland will be allowed to be present.

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Timeline

1. 2 February 2000

   Early Day Motion

   That this House notes that on 30th January, the respected Spanish newspaper El Pais published the text of letters exchanged between the Home Office and Augusto Pinochet's lawyers from November 1999 onwards, and that these letters confirm that, despite being under no legal obligation to make such an offer, the Home Office proposed on its own initiative that Augusto Pinochet's medical details be kept secret before they received any such request from his lawyers; further notes that his lawyers informed the Home Office that their client issued them with detailed instructions about the terms under which he would submit to medical examination in November 1999 after he had allegedly suffered a major deterioration rendering him unable to prepare for trial, that, contrary to procedures adopted in previous extradition cases, the Home Office suggested General Pinochet's own British and Chilean doctors could attend his 5th January medical examination, and that the Home Office supplied him in advance with the complete list of questions they asked the independent medical team to ascertain, including queries about his ability to recall events in the 1970s; notes also that apparent loss of memory in this respect is notoriously easy to fake and that the torture offences upon which his extradition is sought occurred in the late 1980s; and therefore calls upon the Home Secretary to request that Augusto Pinochet, attend a fresh medical examination at which observers for the governments of Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland will be allowed to be present.

   Source: Early Day Motion

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• Jeremy Corbyn · Labour · Primary sponsor

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