Jan. 25, 2014

Chilean judge recalls his prosecution of Pinochet

Former Chilean Judge Juan Guzman, who indicted Chile's dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights violations in 2004, spoke Jan. 16 to students, faculty and staff at California Western School of Law. During the talk, the school's S. Houston Lay Lecture, Guzman related the story of bringing the case against a man responsible for vast numbers of murders and disappearances. During Pinochet's nearly 20-year military dictatorship, more than 3,000 people disappeared and more than 40,000 were tortured. As Pinochet's death squads roamed the country, Guzman said, Chile's judges looked the other way. "Disappearances, mass assassinations, mass torture — these terrible crimes were carried out with absolute impunity," he said. Though Guzman ultimately indicted Pinochet on charges of crimes against humanity, the dictator died in 2006, before he could be brought to trial. "In the face of risk to his safety, his career, and his reputation," professor James M. Cooper, director of the school's Chile summer program, said of Guzman, "he helped demonstrate the important role that the judiciary plays in protecting human rights and ensuring the rule of law." — Ben Adlin