Pinochet's Defense Takes Legal Action Against Judge GuzmanDefense of the former Chilean ruler Gen. Augusto Pinochet filed a legal request Thursday to dismiss Judge Juan Guzman Tapia from handling the Pinochet case, reported the Chilean radio station "Bio Bio."A 10-page legal document to this effect, which was filed before the Supreme Court, claims that Judge Guzman is "upset" and "has lost judiciousness to keep on working in the trial," said the radio. The document also indicates that the judge canceled the medical examinations before the trial of Pinochet, which is considered by Pinochet's legal team as "humiliating." The head of Pinochet's legal team, Pablo Rodriguez, has said that it was unacceptable "to have an ill, 85-year-old man" subject to three straight days of tiring tests and questioning. Pinochet has been charged with atrocities committed by the "Caravan of Death," a military group reportedly related to the massive killings and missing. According to an official report by the government, under Pinochet's rule in 1973-1990, 1,197 people disappeared after being arrested. Only 193 bodies have been found afterward. |
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