Dying Without Trial: Torture/Murderer Pinochet is on his deathbed.

[NNadir]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061203/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/chile_pinochet_15

SANTIAGO, Chile - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, whose 17-year dictatorship carried out thousands of political killings, widespread torture and illegal jailings, clung to life in a Chilean hospital Sunday after suffering a heart attack and being administered last rites.


Just eight days earlier, the 91-year-old former strongman took full responsibility for the actions of his 1973-90 regime after long insisting any abuses were the fault of subordinates.

Pinochet underwent an emergency angioplasty to restore the flow of blood to his heart, and doctors described his condition as "serious but stable." They planned to perform bypass surgery later in the day, state television reported.

"We are now in the hands of God and of the doctors. My father is in very bad condition," Pinochet's younger son, Marco Antonio Pinochet, said at Gen. Luis Felipe Brieba Military Hospital.

Dr. Juan Ignacio Vergara, a member of the team attending the former leader, said the heart attack was "indeed life threatening," especially because of Pinochet's age...

...Last week, Pinochet was put under house arrest after being indicted in the executions of two bodyguards of Salvador Allende, the freely elected Marxist president who was toppled in a bloody 1973 coup led by Pinochet as commander of the Chilean military.

The heart attack came barely a week after Pinochet's 91st birthday on Nov. 25, an occasion he marked by issuing a statement for the first time taking full political — though not explicitly legal — responsibility for abuses committed by his regime.

"Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbor no rancor against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done which had no other goal than making Chile greater...

One may remark that at least there was consideration of a trial. This contrasts with the state of say, Henry Kissinger.

One wonders if Bush, Cheney et al will ever come this close to trial, as they would in a moral world.

[Warpy]

1. His last 5 years have been miserable ones

marred by old age and the poor health that comes with it together with watching everything he held dear die before him, especially his brand of fascism. He's also watched his stolen money going to lawyers.

I just wish he'd live a little longer to enjoy the fruits of his labor a little more. Now he'll be a cardiac cripple in addition to the above.

I can't think of a worse prison than a body that no longer serves its occupant.

[NNadir]

3. It's not his physical suffering that counts. It is the justice for the victims that is missing.

[Warpy]

4. Then they're looking for justice in the wrong place

The rest of my post: "watching everything he held dear die before him, especially his brand of fascism. He's also watched his stolen money going to lawyers."

[NNadir]

5. I don't mean to discount what you say.

Still, were I a victim, I would want the opportunity to face him down at a trial.

[malaise]

2. Call me when that butcher croaks so

I can drink a glass of wine.

[Union Thug]

6. I hope this POS suffers horribly.

[LibertyorDeath]

7. Maybe they can try this fascist C%$T in his place

Thatcher stands by Pinochet

Lady Thatcher thanked her old friend for being an ally during the 1982 Falklands War - and for "bringing democracy to Chile".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/304516.stm