Rights Group Wants Pinochet’s Medical Records Released

LONDON —  Pressure mounted on Britain’s top law enforcement official Wednesday to release medical records that may spell freedom for ailing former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who has been held here 15 months on charges of human rights abuses.

Amnesty International demanded that Home Secretary Jack Straw release the records to Spain, France, Switzerland and Belgium, which requested Pinochet’s extradition claiming their citizens suffered during his 1973-90 dictatorship.

Straw said Tuesday that a medical exam Jan. 5 was “unequivocal and unanimous” in finding the general, 84, too ill to stand trial.

But even if Pinochet returns to Chile, he faces the prospect of prosecution: Chilean law has been amended since the Pinochet regime, when the dictator passed a law granting himself immunity.