LONDON, Dec 1: Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was told on Monday to leave the private luxury clinic where he is residing as he fights extradition to Spain on genocide and torture charges. The Grovelands Priory Hospital in North London, which handles psychiatric cases, said Pinochet no longer needed its specialist care and was well enough to be discharged.Meanwhile, Chilean Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Insulza took his diplomatic efforts on behalf of Pinochet to Madrid, hoping to persuade authorities there to drop the extradition request.
Insulza wants Pinochet to be allowed home rather than face trial in Spain on charges of genocide, torture and terrorism during his iron-fisted 1973-1990 military rule.
The 83-year-old former strongman has been residing at the clinic since he moved from another private establishment in central London, at which he had had back surgery, around the end of October.
He was arrested on October 16 on an international warrant filed by Spain while he was on hisprivate visit to London.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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