MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Judge who indicted Pinochet retires

Chilean Judge Juan Guzman Tapia who indicted former dictator Augusto Pinochet, is about to retire, a Judiciary spokesperson said Saturday in Santiago.

"I will keep coming back to the courthouse, because it is my second home" Judge Guzman vowed when he said good-bye to his co-workers last Thursday.

Back in October, Guzman Tapia notified administrators of his intention to retire on his 65th birthday April.

"If you have life, health and spirit, you have to choose among the things that make you happy and what makes me happiest is writing" he said at the time. "I did my duty to my country. Now, I plan to devote myself to academic activities, rest and my real passion, writing".

According to sources close to the judge, starting Monday he will use some of his accumulated leave to take a trip around Central America and other areas.

Judge Guzman Tapia achieved international fame in March 2000, when he called on Congress to lift the immunity from prosecution that Pinochet enjoyed as a senator-for-life.

Early 1998, when he was given the first criminal action against Pinochet, who ruled Chile with an iron hand from 1973 to1990, no one expected the Catholic, conservative judge to open more than 300 human rights cases against the former dictator.

Human rights attorney Nelson Caucoto said that Mr. Guzman's name is already inscribed in Chilean history as the judge who dared to air such important cases as that of the "Death Caravan", a military operation that between October-November 1973 travelled from prison to prison in northern Chile executing 76 imprisoned opponents.

Mr. Guzman, son of the poet Juan Guzman Cruchaga, was named judge in 1970, three years before the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende's government, and was first posted in a small town in southern Chile.