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| |  | | Augusto Pinochet Ugarte | | | context : | Chile  | | judgement place : | Great Britain | | status : | Other | | particulars : | Extradition sought from several States, including Spain, during his stay in Great Britain in 1998; Pinochet died on 10 December 2006. | | position : | General, President of Chili |
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| | | | Pinochet’s arrest is a development without precedent in the fight against impunity. His arrest at the request of Spanish authorities and the procedure which followed in British courts contributed significantly to the development of the concepts of universal jurisdiction and immunity.
As a result of the British courts’ rulings that an ex-Head of State is not entitled to immunity with regard to charges of torture, hostage-taking and forced disappearances which are considered as international crimes. Clearly, Pinochet is not immune in respect of acts regarded as crimes of universal jurisdiction under customary international law and that, in any event, attracted universal jurisdiction under the Torture Convention.
Augusto Pinochet was the first former Head of State to be arrested by another country for human rights crimes. Moreover, by basing their ruling on Britain's obligations under the Torture Convention, the judges in "Pinochet III" sent a powerful message to the State parties to that treaty.
The first application of the "Pinochet precedent" came in February 2000 when a Senegalese judge indicted the exiled dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, on torture charges. | |    | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Chile | | | date of birth : | | | 25.11.1915 | | | last time seen : | | | Santiago (Chili) | | | period of charges : | | | 11.09.1973 - 14.12.1990 | | | judgement period : | | | 16.10.1998 - 02.03.2000 | | | charges : | | | Forced disappearances
Torture | | | profile last modified : | | | 11.12.2006 |
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