Spanish newspapers reported Thursday that a Spanish judge, Baltazar Garzon, had asked British authorities for permission to question Kissinger while he is in London to address the April 24 annual convention of the Institute of Directors (IoD). They also cited a similar request to Interpol, the international police network, from a French judge.

Both men were quoted as saying that the moves related to Kissinger's role in abuses which took place in Chile under former dictator Augusto Pinochet. They referred particularly to "Operation Condor," in which five Latin American rulers worked together to get rid of opponents, and the disappearance of a number of Europeans in Chile after the coup d'etat that brought Pinochet to power in 1973.

It was on similar grounds that Pinochet was arrested during a private visit to London in 1998. After Britain's highest court ruled that he could be extradited to Spain to stand trial on charges of torture and conspiracy, the human rights organization Amnesty International said, "The message is loud and clear: head-of-state immunity does not grant freedom to commit crimes against humanity and acts of torture." Pinochet was subsequently freed on grounds of ill-health.

Kissinger's presence in Britain next week will prompt calls from human rights and global justice campaigners for the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to hold the 79-year-old to account under the principle of "universal jurisdiction," which gives national courts the power to prosecute anyone on their territory suspected of committing a crime against humanity.

"We are against the idea of Kissinger coming to this country," said Guy Taylor of London-based Globalize Resistance, adding, however, that he would support any domestic legal moves against the Harvard-educated National Security Adviser to former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.

The radical group is using leaflets, posters, and the Internet to generate support for a morning demonstration next Wednesday outside London's Royal Albert Hall where IoD delegates are scheduled to gather for a breakfast meeting. Campaigners staged a mock trial of Kissinger earlier this week, at which the "chief prosecutor" was veteran peace-activist Bruce Kent.

Taylor said the protesters were concerned not only with Kissinger's activities in Chile, but also with the 1969 bombing of Cambodia, an attempt to thwart the independence struggle of Bangladesh, and the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, among other interventions which have caused major political shifts on the international stage.

An IoD spokesman said Kissinger had been invited to address the conference because he was "one of the world's most respected individuals." In addition to being an entertaining speaker, he said, Kissinger's varied experience was relevant to the meeting's theme, "Globalization - the real nature and impact."

Harvard-educated Kissinger was the joint winner of a Nobel peace prize in 1973 for his part in arranging a ceasefire in Vietnam. He was also the author of a round of secret diplomacy that led to the opening of relations between the US and communist China.

Copyright © 2002 OneWorld.net

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