The trial of Augusto Pinochet

What happened?

General Augusto Pinochet was indicted for human rights violations committed in his native country Chile in October 1998. He was arrested in London six days later and held for a year and a half before finally being released by the British government in March 2000. Authorized to freely return to Chile, Pinochet was charged with a number of crimes, before dying in December 2006, without having been convicted in any case. His arrest in London made the front-page of newspapers worldwide.

*Pinochet was accused of kidnapping, killing, and causing the “disappearance” of 3,000 political leaders.

*It was said that he kept over 7,000 prisoners in a detention center, 300-400 of those people were not even Chile citizens

*Of a population of barely 11 million, more than 4,000 were executed or “disappeared,” hundreds of thousands were detained and tortured, and almost a million fled the country.

*Pinochet was also guilty of murdering many people in horrific ways. Many were tortured in the National stadium. The most infamous is potentially Pinochet's henchmen dropping pregnant women out of aeroplanes.

*35 torture charges, mainly consisting of rape, electric shocks, beatings, and kidnappings

*Criminal Charges- Caravan of Death, Assassination of Carlos Prats, Operation Condor, Operation Colombo, Villa Grimaldi, Carmelo Soria, Calle Conferencia, Antonio Llido, Eugenio Berrios, Tax Evasion, Passport Forgery

Opening

For prosecution

Today it is our job to prove the defendant, Augusto Pinochet, guilty of kidnapping, killing, and causing the “disappearance” of 3,000 political leaders and murdering over 4,000 civilians, and torturing hundreds of thousands.

Augusto Pinochet was the president of Chile between 1973 and 1990. In that time, Pinochet was guilty of murdering people in horrific ways. Many were tortured in in the National Stadium. Some of Pinochet’s most inhumane acts were dropping pregnant women out of aeroplanes, rape, electric shocks, beatings, and kidnapping.

The prosecution will prove to you today that Augusto Pinochet is guilty of of kidnapping, killing, and causing the “disappearance” of 3,000 political leaders and murdering over 4,000 civilians, and torturing hundreds of thousands. Why would we let a terrible minded person like this get away with such things? There are hundreds of thousands of reasons why, which are all the people dead because of what this man did. Of Chile’s population of a population of barely 11 million, more than 4,000 were executed or “disappeared,” hundreds of thousands were detained and tortured, and almost a million fled the country. We need to do everything in our power to prevent anything like this to ever happen again, and that is why Pinochet should be found guilty.

Written by: Nicole Goshorn

Closing

For prosecution

Today you have heard the prosecution side of this case. It was our job to prove Pinochet guilty of these torture charges, and we have. Pinochet was the president of Chile for many years. And he turned his back on his country. Why do we believe Pinochet is guilty?

1. We have proved that every single one of these deaths or “disappearances” was either the people of his own country, or his political enemies. Now this was either a huge coincidence or Pinochet has his eyes set on destroying his very own country.

2. Now that we know is was Pinochet that caused these deaths and “disappearances” Let’s talk about the different types of torture that you have seen today. You have seen that he kidnapped many people and children. Raped, beat, and sometimes electrically shocked them. He even dropped pregnant women out of an aeroplane on several occasions. He has kept 7,000 people in a detention center and 300-400 of these people weren’t even Chile citizens. Of a population of just barely 11 million people, 4,000 of these people were executed. and

3. Pinochet has been charged with 35 torture charges, and 300 criminal charges for numerous human rights violations. Even if you don’t believe that half of these charges are true, that is still a tremendous amount of charges that I personally don’t even want to think about. All of these charges that have been put against Pinochet are obviously all true.

Let’s just think if you were there, witnessing any one of these tortures, witnessing those pregnant women fall out of the planes. Watching the children cry for their parents are they are being raped and beaten. Now look at this man. He is the one that is responsible for every single one of these crimes. He is the one that should be punished for these crimes. He is the one who is guilty. Today we, the prosecution, have proved that Pinochet is the one responsible for all of these deaths and horrific events. We ask that you rule in favor of us, the prosecution. Thank you.

Written by: Cassie Riley

Death

Pinochet suffered a heart attack in December, 2006. The same day he was given the last rights. Pinochet died in the intensive care unit at the Military Hospital the same day. Massive spontaneous street demonstrations broke out throughout the country upon the learning of his death. In Santiago, opponents celebrated at the Alameda avenue, while supporters grieved outside the Military Hospital. Pinochet's remains were publicly exhibited on 11 December 2006 at the Military Academy in Las Condes. During this ceremony Francisco Cuadrado Prats, the grandson of Carlos Prats, a former Commander in Chief of the Army in Allende's Government, murdered by Pinochet's secret police, spat on the coffin, and was quickly surrounded by supporters of Pinochet, who kicked and insulted him. Pinochet's funeral took place the following day at the same venue before a gathering of 60,000 supporters.

Sources

http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/au/Augusto_Pinochet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet