GUZMAN REMAINS IN CHARGE OF OPERATION CONDOR CASE

[seemslikeadream]

While Muñoz Investigates Pinochet’s Multi-Million Bank Accounts

(Sept. 7, 2004) The Supreme Court announced Monday that investigative Judge Juan Guzmán will remain in charge of the Operation Condor case. The investigation has been temporarily suspended after Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s defense attorney Pablo Rodríguez last week claimed that Guzmán harbored “hatred and resentment” against Pinochet and should be removed from the case (ST, Aug. 31).

While their motion was turned down, Pinochet’s defense attorneys did succeed in postponing the former dictator’s much anticipated testimony to Judge Guzmán, who has been on Pinochet’s trail for six years and who has yet to interrogate the former Chilean head of state.

Guzmán’s dogged pursuit of Pinochet began in 1999 with the Caravan of Death case, when the judge sent Pinochet a series of interrogatories while Pinochet was detained in London pending extradition hearings that almost saw him sent to Spain to face human rights charges there.

Following Pinochet’s subsequent return to Chile, Guzmán was eventually able to strip the former dictator of his legal immunity, only to have Chile’s Supreme Court later declare that, owing to dementia, Pinochet was unfit for trial.
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