MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pinochet judges meet

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón and his Chilean par Juan Guzmán Tapia, both linked to court actions against former General Augusto Pinochet met last week in the Argentine city of La Plata, where Garzón was honoured at the local University. Judge Garzón became world famous when he extended an extradition order that kept Mr. Pinochet in house arrest in Britain for over a year and a half. He's currently investigating crimes committed against Spanish citizens by the former Latinamerican military dictatorships. Chilean Judge Guzmán Tapia indicted Mr. Pinochet on his release from Britain, in Chile, for his involvement in the so called "death caravan", when tens of opponents to the military regime in the seventies were systematically captured and murdered. Both Judges participated in meetings and exchanges organized by Argentine Judges and Public Prosecutors involved in the investigation of disappeared Argentine citizens in the so called "truth trials" that are been held in several Argentine cities. Judge Baltasar Guzmán was named Doctor "Honoris Causa" by the University of La Plata in a ceremony where many human rights and next of kin of disappeared Argentines organizations participated. However both Judges made no public remarks while in Argentina.