In Paris, Pinochet’s victims seek a kind of justice

[Judi Lynn]

In Paris, Pinochet’s victims seek a kind of justice
ANITA ELASH
PARIS— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Dec. 13, 2010 12:00AM EST
Last updated Monday, Dec. 13, 2010 11:07PM EST

Vanessa Fausto Klein was just an infant when her father, Georges, was arrested, tortured and assassinated during the coup that brought Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet into power in 1973. But the event marked her life, driving her to spend years piecing together the events leading up to her father’s death.

This week in a Paris criminal court, she and the relatives of three other French citizens who were victims of the coup hope to see the culmination of those efforts as 14 of General Pinochet’s closest collaborators stand trial on charges of kidnapping, torture and barbarous acts.

The 14, including the two former heads of Gen. Pinochet’s notorious secret service, are being tried in absentia, since Chile and France have no extradition treaty. But Ms. Klein says she hopes the trial will allow her and the other families to finally put the case to rest.

“I have lived with this all my life. What’s important is that there is a criminal judgment and a sentence,” she said. “Without that something remains open in my own story and I cannot anticipate how that will affect me.”

More:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/in-paris-pinochets-victims-seek-a-kind-of-justice/article1836492/

[social_critic]

1. Too bad it took so long

It's sad to see how long it takes for these trials to happen. By now, most of the culprits have got away with it for 40 years.

I used to have hopes for the International Court of Justice, until I realized it had become a charade, the type of person who gets taken to the court is usually one involved in crimes in a country where the USA/Europe have a political agenda. On the other hand, archcriminals elsewhere, including people like say Stephen Cambone, a US Pentagon official, are left untouched.