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Lawyers prepare for case against Pinochet

On the opening day of a long-delayed extradition hearing, lawyers for Spain urged the magistrate to consider not only 34 allegations of torture, but also the anguish of relatives of the 1,198 people who allegedly disappeared during Pinochet's 17-year rule.

"It is our case that the continuing offense of conspiracy to torture .... has, as one of its objects, that the fate of these people would continue to be concealed from families causing severe mental pain, suffering and demoralization," said Alun Jones, a British lawyer acting for Spanish prosecutors.

Pinochet, who did not attend the hearing, has been detained in Britain since his arrest Oct. 16 at a London hospital. Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzon wants to put the 83-year-old general on trial in Spain.

A Chilean government report acknowledged that 3,197 people died after Pinochet ousted elected Marxist President Salvador Allende in 1973.

The extradition hearing is confined to extradition law and issues of jurisdiction rather than criminal evidence.

Under orders from Britain's House of Lords, the court may only consider charges of torture and conspiracy to torture after December 1988 - when an international convention against torture came into effect in Britain. It made torture an international crime that could be prosecuted anywhere, and provides the basis for Spain's case.

Jones outlined the 34 torture allegations, saying many of the victims were subjected to beatings and electrical shocks and deprived of food and sleep. And he argued that the disappearances have caused ongoing mental torture for surviving relatives.

Pinochet's lawyer, Clive Nicholls, who begins arguments Tuesday, said Pinochet denied responsibility for the alleged crimes. "His hand is not on these deeds," Nicholls said.

He plans to argue that no evidence links Pinochet to the crimes, that Spain has no jurisdiction and that the charges are politically motivated.

In a statement to the court in April, Pinochet declared, "I do not agree with this. ... I have nothing to do with any of these charges. ... I am being humiliated. I am a general with 64 years' service and I am a gentleman who knows about honor."

If Deputy Chief Magistrate Ronald Bartle rules against Pinochet, he may appeal. After all legal options are exhausted, the case returns to Home Secretary Jack Straw for a final decision.

Outside the court, Pinochet's supporters and opponents marked the start of the hearing - some in protest, others in celebration.

"Pinochet's victims have waited 25 years for this historic mooent," said Reed Brody of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch.

Chileans, meanwhile, followed the hearing without the protests and excitement that marked previous stages of Pinochet's legal battle.

At the Pinochet Foundation, a private group of his staunchest followers, rooms that in the past were packed with supporters watching broadcasts of the trial were almost empty.

Across the city, a group of women held an overnight vigil at the office of an organization of dissidents who disappeared. They did the same for previous hearings, but this group was clearly smaller.

Peacekeepers calm hungry looters

But in the first show of defiance toward the international force, armed men killed one Western journalist and attacked two others.

Many Indonesians accuse the foreign media of stirring up problems in East Timor and conspiring with the United Nations.

to rig the outcome of an Aug. 30 referendum, in which East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to become independent from Indonesia.

"It would appear that the militia have attempted to step up some activities as a show that all is not yet secure. Well, I would agree with that," said Australian Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, commander of the peacekeeping force.

Cosgrove said he did not have enough soldiers to protect all of the residential areas in East Timor's ravaged capital, Dili.

Thousands of East Timorese descended from the hills yesterday morning and stormed a government warehouse, looting 110-pound sacks of rice, sugar and tins of cooking oil. Indonesian guards were overwhelmed, but peacekeepers soon arrived and brought the crowd under control without using force.

Relief efforts, which began again yesterday, were expected to pick up today. Food drops had been suspended since Monday in favor of airlifting peacekeepers and supplies for the multinational force.

Less than half the force, expected to number 7,500, was in the territory by yesterday. Despite the paucity of troops, 150 peacekeepers flew in Blackhawk helicopters to East Timor's second-largest city, Baucau, to secure the airport, said Brig. Mark Evans, land forces commander.

The airstrip in Baucau, 80 miles east of Dili, could be useful in bringing supplies to desperate refugees hiding in the thickly forested mountains. The refugees had fled rampaging pro-Indonesia militias, angered over East Timor's vote for independence.

The militia violence has waned since the peacekeepers' arrival Monday, but in the Dili suburb of Becora, Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes was killed, officials said Wednesday. Thoenes, a 30-year-old reporter for London's Financial Times newspaper, had disappeared after being attacked Tuesday.

In a separate attack, two other journalists were ambushed and managed to escape. Their driver was severely wounded.

At the United Nations in New York, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said he deeply regretted Thoenes' death.

"It shows that we have always to be very, very careful," he said. "Although it appears that things are returning slowly to normal, you still have this security situation. Everything can happen and everybody has to be very, very cautious."

In Dili, peacekeepers drove armored personnel carriers down the devastated streets, searching for anyone who looked suspicious. Within 24 hours, the soldiers had rounded up dozens of suspected militants and confiscated hundreds of guns, knives and machetes.

"We have lost count of the number of weapons," Evans said.

Indonesia's army chief, Gen. Wiranto, claimed the situation was improving.

"Of course there's always a criminal element, one or two people are still fighting and looting - this is always going to happen. But in general, our indications are that things are OK," he said.

However, there were numerous witness accounts that Indonesian troops were burning their barracks and nearby stores as they left the province.

Residents found five bodies in a well in central Dili, in what could be the first sign of a mass killing.

An Associated Press reporter saw one naked, headless corpse floating in the well Wednesday. Witnesses said four bodies were pulled out the day before.

In Indonesian West Timor - the other half of the island north of Australia - Eurico Guterres, the commander of the most notorious pro-Jakarta militia, rejected the results of the independence referendum.

"East Timor will continue to seethe and there will be the possibility of a civil war" unless an acceptable solution is found, he said.

That solution should be the division of East Timor, with pro-Indonesia forces getting part of the territory, he told the national Antara0 news agency.

"We will fight until the last blood to defend our territory," Guterres was quoted as saying.

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