6A
Nation/World
Thursday October 29,1998
Former dictator's extradition blocked
Augusto Pinochet will not face trial in British courts
The Associated Press
LONDON — The High Court ruled yesterday that Augusto Pinochet was immune from prosecution in British courts and ordered the British government to pay the former Chilean dictator's legal costs of $600,000.
The court threw out two Spanish arrest warrants acted upon by British authorities. The warrants sought Pinochet's extradition to face charges of murder, kidnapping and torturing political opponents during his 17-year dictatorship.
In his ruling, Lord Chief Justice Thomas Bingham said it was "of course a matter for
acute public concern that those who abuse sovereign power to commit crimes against humanity should not escape trial and appropriate punishment."
But nothing, including the charter that established the International War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945, invalidated the principle "that one sovereign state will not impugn another in relation to its sovereign acts," Bingham said.
In Madrid, lawyers trying to extradite Pinochet to Spain criticized the British court but said they remained hopeful that an appeals court eventually would overturn the ruling.
"I was very optimistic until today," said lawyer Virginia Diaz, who has worked closely on the case.
"We were surprised by the ruling," said Diaz, who argued that international law clearly ruled out immunity in cases of crimes against humanity. "We are not
talking about a little bit of corruption, but the killing, torture and disappearance of thousands of people."
To the joy of Chilean exiles, however, the court ordered that Pinochet remain in custody until an appeal by British prosecutors to the House of Lords.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it would file an urgent appeal on the immunity question Monday, the deadline given by the court.
Bingham said he was giving British prosecutors the opportunity to appeal because of the public importance and international interest of the case.
Pinochet's lawyers immediately applied for the release on bail of the 82-year-old former leader, who is recuperating from spinal surgery performed on Oct.9.
Magistrates scheduled the bail hearing for Friday and said they would not rule out holding it at
"We are not talking about a little bit of corruption, but the killing, torture and disappearance of thousands of people."
Virginia Diaz
Madrid lawyer
the private London Clinic, where Pinochet has remained under arrest since Oct. 16.
Lawyers for the Spanish magistrate had alleged that Pinochet was responsible for up to 4,000 murders, including at least one in the United States, and had sent agents to Spain to kill opponents there.
Pinochet, who came to power in 1973, stepped down in 1990, but remained commander-in-chief of the army until March.
Forecast clear for Glenn's historic launch
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The countdown toward the launch of John Glenn and his six crewmates rolled on smoothly yesterday, with NASA officials saying preparations were nearly flawless for today's liftoff.
Glenn, a 77-year-old senator poised to return to space 36 years after becoming the first American in orbit, spent most of the day with the other astronauts in the crew quarters. They reviewed flight documents and attended a briefing on the mission progress.
NASA test director Steve Altemus said the countdown ranked among the smoothest he had experienced. The lack
of problems,he said,made Discovery's preparations "right up there with the best of them."
The weather forecast remained excellent for launch, forecasters said.
Hurricane Mitch, which NASA weather observers had been following closely, veered westward Tuesday, away from Florida. It was not expected to have any effect on the space mission, but NASA forecaster Ed Priselac said the storm still could head toward the southeastern United States next week.
"It is truly an unknown where Mitch will end up." Priselac said.
The launch opportunity can be extended until 4:30 p.m. today. After that, the mission would be rescheduled
for tomorrow, which also has a favor able forecast.
The mission is scheduled to last eight days, 20 hours, with a landing back at the Kennedy Space Center.
Glenn will become the oldest person ever launched into space, breaking the record held by Story Musgrave, who was 61 when he made his last shuttle flight two years ago.
There are 83 experiments on board. Glenn will participate in 10. Nearly all of his experiments will explore the effects of weightlessness on the human body. These effects are similar to the symptoms of aging that many people suffer on Earth. Scientists hope the research will lead to new treatments.
Albanians reluctant to trust Serbians; few return home
The Associated Press
DRAGOBILJE, Yugoslavia — Two things told ethnic Albanians that some change has come from international pressure on their Serbian enemies: Uniformed guerrilla fighters moved openly in several areas yesterday, and the dreaded police checkpoints had virtually disappeared.
That's not enough, though, to persuade most to return to their homes or to trust Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosev. NATO's decision to lift its deadline for Milosev to comply or possibly face airstrikes only bolstered their misgivings.
"NATO, it isn't doing the job," said red-eyed Albert Pacarizi, 24, at the funeral of his 18-year-old cousin, a guerrilla killed Tuesday by a land mine left by Serb police. "They don't attack. They just give a news conference."
Scores of armed guerrillas in green camouflage uniforms with the red and yellow badge of their Kosovo Liberation Army marched in formation at the funeral. That was unthinkable three days earlier, when Serb police manned a checkpoint on the road to Dragobilje, 25 miles southwest of Pristina.
The police withdrew Monday as part of the Oct. 12 agreement between Milosevic and U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke to end the crisis in southern Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia.
Under the deal, Milosevic must cut the number of troops and police in Kosovo to the levels of last February, when he began his crackdown on secessionist
Kristi Elliott / KANSAN
rebels.
Hundreds have died, and 300,000 ethnic Albanians have been forced from their homes. About 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million residents are ethnic Albanian, and most favor independence.
With Yugoslav forces withdrawing, NATO refrained from setting a new deadline after its last one expired Tuesday night. It kept more than 400 warplanes on alert, and the U.S. Navy announced yesterday that American P-3C Orion surveillance planes would begin regular flights over Kosovo on Sunday.
The planes can fly up to 12 hours without refueling and will help monitor the situation day and night regardless of the weather.
By warning that the threat of attack remains, NATO hoped to guarantee the safety of the ethnic Albanian refugees, who are terrified of returning home unless government troops and Serb police have retreated completely.
The threat was insufficient for Albanian politicians hoping the alliance would strike the Yugoslav war machine.
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