Arrest and Court Cases in Britain
The case was a watershed event in judicial history, as it was the first time that a former government head was arrested on the principle of universal jurisdiction.
After having been placed under house arrest in Britain and initiating a judicial and public relations battle, the latter run by Thatcherite political operative Patrick Robertson, he was eventually released in March 2000 on medical grounds by the Home Secretary Jack Straw without facing trial; Straw had overruled a House of Lords decision to extradite Pinochet.
Read more about this topic: Augusto Pinochet
Famous quotes containing the words arrest, court, cases and/or britain:
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)
“To take revenge halfheartedly is to court disaster: Either condemn or crown your hatred.”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
“After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When Britain first, at Heaven’s command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of her land,
And guardian angels sung the strain:
Rule, Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never shall be slaves.”
—James Thomson (1700–1748)