Chile Moves to Grant Immunity to Ex-Leaders

SANTIAGO, Chile â€”  The Chilean Congress approved a constitutional amendment Saturday that grants all past presidents, including former dictator Augusto Pinochet, immunity from prosecution and pays them an allowance.

The controversial reform created the status of “past president� and requires senators-for-life--such as Pinochet and former President Eduardo Frei--to resign their seats in the upper house of Congress to acquire the new title.

The move was designed chiefly to encourage Pinochet to remove himself from active politics by stepping down as senator-for-life, a position that the former dictator wrote into the constitution and which bestows immunity from prosecution.

The amendment will also give former heads of state a salary equal to that of senators, about $6,000 a month.

In a plenary session of both houses of Congress, 111 legislators voted in favor of the constitutional reform, 29 against and three abstained. Neither Pinochet nor Frei, who stepped down March 11 after six years in office and was sworn in as senator-for-life Tuesday, attended the session.

It was the first time in its 10-year rule that the center-left government saw a serious split in the coalition’s ranks, with left-wing deputies refusing to vote for a reform that favors Pinochet.

Pinochet, 84, returned to Chile March 3 after spending nearly 17 months under house arrest outside London, battling extradition to Spain. Pinochet, who was arrested while seeking medical treatment in Britain, was allowed to leave after British doctors determined that he was too ill to stand trial in Spain for the human rights abuses allegedly committed during his regime. He has diabetes and wears a pacemaker.

Loathed and loved in Chile, Pinochet ruled the country for 17 years after ousting elected Socialist President Salvador Allende in a bloody 1973 coup. More than 3,000 people died or disappeared in leftist crackdowns during Pinochet’s military regime.

Since his return, the general has been holed up in secluded houses out of the glare of the world’s media, but he has also been making frequent trips to hospitals for checkups and tests.

A local judge is investigating more than 70 civil lawsuits filed against Pinochet alleging his involvement in the deaths, torture and kidnappings of leftists during his 1973-90 rule. Pinochet has denied the allegations.

The probe by Judge Juan Guzman has yet to file any concrete charges against Pinochet.

Guzman has been trying to strip Pinochet of his senator-for-life immunity via an appeals court in Santiago, the capital. The process could take several months, and any decision could be appealed to Chile’s top tribunal, the Supreme Court.