Senator Augusto Pinochet was arrested in 1998 in London on the orders of a Spanish judge seeking his extradition for human rights crimes. Here, political scientists and lawyers analyse the political and historical context of the case and its progress through the courts in the UK and Chile.

The 1998 arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London and subsequent extradition proceedings sent an electrifying wave through the international community. This legal precedent for bringing a former head of state to trial outside his home country signaled that neither the immunity of a former head of state nor legal amnesties at home could shield participants in the crimes of military governments. It also allowed victims of torture and crimes against humanity to hope that their tormentors might be brought to justice. In this meticulously researched volume, Naomi Roht-Arriaza examines the implications of the litigation against members of the Chilean and Argentine military governments and traces their effects through similar cases in Latin American and Europe. Roht-Arriaza discusses the difficulties in bringing violators of human rights to justice at home, and considers the role of transitional justice in transnational prosecutions and investigations in the national courts of countries other than those where the crimes took place. She traces the roots of the landmark Pinochet case and follows its development and those of related cases, through Spain, the United Kingdom, elsewhere in Europe, and then through Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. She situates these transnational cases within the context of an emergent International Criminal Court, as well as the effectiveness of international law and of the lawyers, judges, and activists working together across continents to make a new legal paradigm a reality. Interviews and observations help to contextualize and dramatize these compelling cases. These cases have tremendous ramifications for the prospect of universal jurisdiction and will continue to resonate for years to come. Roht-Arriaza's deft navigation of these complicated legal proceedings elucidates the paradigm shift underlying this prosecution as well as the traction gained by advocacy networks promoting universal jurisdiction in recent decades.

The arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in October 1998 was a wake-up call to tyrants everywhere. The two subsequent rulings by the British House of Lords rejecting his claim of immunity forged legal history. This book traces the legal proceedings in the Pinochet case from the investigation in Spain, through the October 1999 ruling by a London Magistrate that Pinochet could be extradited to Spain, to the final decision to release Pinochet for health reasons. By including the full text of the British judicial decisions as well as the arrest warrants, translations of the key Spanish court rulings, excerpts from the legal arguments put forward by all sides, and commentaries by participants in the case and legal scholars, this volume gives the reader an understanding of the factual, political, and legal context of this historic prosecution.

Presents seven essays written by English legal and political scholars and researchers addressing the legal and constitutional issues surrounding the Pinochet extradition case in Britain. The introduction provides a calendar of events and considers the interaction between the courts and the Home Secretary in the extradition process. Contributions to the next two sections critically assess the House of Lords and the issues of bias, justice, and international law in light of the Pinochet case. Distributed by ISBS. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR