Pinochet may face charges of genocide

That government kept comment to a minimum, insisting the arrest, which came as Pinochet recovered from surgery on a hernia in his lower back, was mandatory in law after an extradition request from Spain.

Government spokesmen stressed the technicalities of Pinochet’s arrest: the Home Office said the order came from a London magistrate, acting on an initial extradition request from Madrid.

But a report in the Independent on Sunday newspaper said the arrest “was sanctioned at the highest political level” in London.

In addition the weekly Observer alleged the Spanish warrantarrived on Friday after London warned Madrid that Pinochet would soon complete his convalescence and leave the country.

Inside commentators lauded the Labour government for giving teeth to its stated aim of an “ethical foreign policy”, adding that Pinochet visited London repeatedly and with impunity under the previous Conservative administration.

Late Saturday, Chilean foreign minister Jose Miguel Insulza made a formal complaint to the Foreign Office and telephoned his British counterpart Robin Cook.

Santiago alleges that London has violated Pinochet’s diplomatic immunity as a lifetime senator.

On Saturday Chilean President Eduardo Frei told reporters in Oporto, Portugal: “We think that you have to respect Chilean laws. This condition of diplomatic immunity protects all Chilean lawmakers … people in Chile must be judged by Chilean courts”.

But, according to a Foreign Office spokesman, Cook insisted to Insulza the arrest was “entirely a Judicial matter and expressed the hope that this affairwould do no harm to the excellent relations between Chile and the UK”.

Earlier the Foreign Office stressed London had a “legal obligation to detain Pinochet” after the warrant arrived via Interpol. It also denied that Pinochet had diplomatic immunity.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has also been careful not to issue a public statement on the arrest and his office has said merely that the British premier was being kept “closely informed” of developments.

It was not known if a date for a court appearance had been set, or whether Spanish authorities would attempt to question Pinochet in Britain before any extradition.

Legal sources in Madrid said Pinochet could face charges of genocide, torture, terrorism and crimes against humanity brought by families of those who died during his iron rule. The warrant given to British authorities concerns the murder in 1976 of 80 Chileans of Spanish origin.

The Home Office said any decision on extradition would ultimately rest with Home Secretary Jack Straw, and thatMadrid had 40 days from the arrest to submit a full extradition request, setting out grounds for a trial in Spain.

It came from Madrid magistrates Baltasar Garzon and Manuel Garcia Castellon, who are conducting an inquiry into the alleged murder and disappearance of hundreds of Spaniards during Pinochet’s rule from 1973 and 1990.

Unconfirmed British press reports indicated that the two magistrates were in London on Saturday. More than 2,000 people were executed or murdered and another 1,000 reported missing under Pinochet, according to figures published after democracy returned to Chile in 1990.

Although there was no official word on where the retired general was being held, armed police, journalists and around 50 protesters gathered outside a private clinic in Devonshire Square, London.

The protesters held a candle-lit vigil during the night outside the London Clinic, occasionally chanting “The time has come for your trial”, “Pinochet you are guilty of mass murder”, and “Pinochet, where arethey?”, a reference to the “disappeared”. Passing cars hooted their support.

Julio Vial, of the group Chilean Exiles in Britain, said he believed Pinochet was being held on the eighth floor.