Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006), military dictator of Chile (1973-1990), whose arrest in 1998 marked an unprecedented prosecution of a former head of state. Born in Valparaíso, he was educated at Chile's military academy from which he graduated in 1937. Rising steadily through army ranks, he was appointed brigadier-general during the administration of Eduardo Frei Montalva. Under President Salvador Allende he became commander of the Santiago garrison, and finally in June 1973 he was made commander-in-chief of the army.

Pinochet was one of the leaders of the September coup of 1973, supported by the United States, during which Allende was deposed and died. This was the first time the Chilean army had intervened in civil affairs. Pinochet subsequently became the leader of the junta which had overthrown Allende, and by 1974 he had emerged as head of state. He quickly curtailed political activity, and his regime was condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 1977 for its practice of torturing detainees. It is alleged that during this period Pinochet ordered several purges of political opponents, which resulted in the torture and killing of more than 3,000 people and forced many more into exile.

Growth in the Chilean economy and his portrayal of himself as a patriot against communist insurgency also sustained his popularity. In 1980 Pinochet was confirmed in office for an eight-year term by a constitution passed by popular mandate, which also stated that a vote by the people (a plebiscite) would be held to determine whether he stayed on at the end of the period. Opposition to his rule became more organized and in 1986 an assassination attempt, which killed five of his security guards, only just failed; however it led to further repressive measures. The plebiscite in October 1988 denied him the right to continue as president beyond March 1990 (the vote was 55 per cent for and 43 per cent against). Following the election of Patricio Aylwin Azócar as president in 1989, Pinochet retained his post as army commander, which he held until early 1998 when he became senator for life.

In October 1998 Pinochet was arrested while in the United Kingdom for medical treatment, over an extradition warrant to answer charges in Spain relating to human rights abuses during his rule. After a protracted court case, and demonstrations for and against him in Chile, London, and elsewhere, the House of Lords upheld the extradition request in March 1999. A year later the UK Home Secretary Jack Straw released him on humanitarian grounds, allowing him to return home after a panel of doctors found him unfit to stand trial. However, his arrest and the legal proceedings against him were regarded as important in establishing a precedent in international law for the detention of former heads of state suspected of committing human rights violations.

Attempts to bring Pinochet to trial continued after his return to Chile, resulting in his being stripped of his constitutional immunity to prosecution in August 2000. In July 2001 the Santiago Court of Appeals ruled him mentally unfit to stand trial. The Chilean Supreme Court upheld this decision on July 1, 2002, effectively bringing to an end all attempts to prosecute Pinochet for human rights abuses, although relatives of those killed during his dictatorship continued to bring legal actions against him on a case-by-case basis, as a result of which Pinochet spent prolonged periods under house arrest.