A British court said in London October 8 that former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet should be extradited to Spain to stand trial on torture charges dating from his rule.

　 Magistrate Ronald Bartle made the rule at 1020 GMT in Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London. He said Pinochet has been committed to extradition to Spain to face the charges.

　 The ruling does not mean Pinochet will be sent to Spain immediately. His lawyers would have 15 days to appeal and, in any case, Home Secretary Jack Straw must sign all extradition orders and can overrule the magistrate.

　 Pinochet, 83, was arrested in London nearly a year ago at the request of Spain, which wants to try him on torture charges dating from the latter part of his 1973-90 rule in Chile.

　 The retired general, who is under house arrest in the suburb of south-west London, was not in the court to hear the verdict as British law required. He is excused from attending the verdict on grounds of ill health. His doctors say he has not yet overcome the effects of two apparent strokes last month.

　 Bartle's decision is the high water mark of the case so far, the first time there has been a court decision on whether Pinochet should be extradited to Spain.

　 Other court rulings to date have focused on the legality of Pinochet's arrest last October 16 while recovering in a London hospital from a back operation.

　 His detention was upheld by Britain's top court in March, although it reduced the charges against him to those dated after December 1988, when Britain incorporated an international torture convention into law.

　 Pinochet denies the allegations, telling one newspaper that he "didn't have time to control what others were doing". (Xinhua)