Regina v. Bartle, Bow Street Stipendiary Magistrate and Commissioner of Police, Ex parte Pinochet case brief

Regina v. Bartle, Bow Street Stipendiary Magistrate and Commissioner of Police, Ex parte Pinochet

Procedural History:
Appeal from arrest and extradition order.

Overview:
-Pinochet (D) claimed that he could not be extradited because he was not guilty of any crime under English law. An English magistrate issued an arrest warrant for Pinochet (D), the former head of state of Chile, at the request of a Spanish investigating judge for extradition.
-The House of Lords found that Pinochet (D) could not claim immunity in regard to torture that had been made a universal crime by the International Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984.
-Pinochet (D) claimed torture was not strictly an international crime in the highest sense.

Issue:
Is torture an international crime?

Rule:
Yes, torture is an international crime.

Analysis:
The Torture Convention created an exception to the otherwise applicable immunity of present and former heads of state from criminal process. Pinochet (D) ultimately was found to be too sick to stand trial. He was allowed to return to Chile.

Outcome:
-Torture is an international crime. The Torture Convention was agreed not to create an international crime that had not previously existed but to provide an international system under which the international criminal-the torturer-could find no safe haven.
-All state parties are required to prohibit torture on their territory and to take jurisdiction over any alleged offender who is found within their territory.
-Torture is to be treated as an extraditable offense and will be considered to have been committed not only in the place where it occurred but also in the state where either the alleged offender or victim is a national.

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