03 Dec Cheating the Hangman?
03.12.06
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3 Comments
Augusto Pinochet has received last rights following a heart attack. Although still alive, he appears to be in imminent danger of death. If he dies, it will bring one of the darkest chapters in Chilean history to an unsatisfying end; as I have noted before, courts have only recently begun to strip Pinochet of the general immunity he was granted in the 1980 Constitution.
Pinochet’s likely death illustrates one of the central problems created by the glacial pace of international criminal law: potential defendants often do not live long enough to be brought to justice. Hitler, Himmler, Milosevic, Pol Pot, Ta Mok — the list goes on, and will soon have another member.
Shouldn’t that be “last rites”
What would being “brought to justice” entail? Unless it is worse than the alternative, I’m not sure how this matters much. Life in prison is not exactly desirable, but it’s hardly the worst punishment imaginable; Milosevich was already in prison during the trial, Hitler killed himself, etc. Unless there is some suitably horrendous punishment (e.g. torture) for a conviction, does it really matter?
I think it does matter as this means the case is never tried, case law isn’t developed, there is no verdict, etc. While ‘merely’ symbolic in some respects, a verdict can be a powerful tool for future generations and a vindication of struggles in the past.