The latest step in the legal battle involving Gen Augusto Pinochet of Chile gets under way today in a London magistrates' court. The hearings, which are expected to last four or five days, will be to decide whether the ailing former dictator can be extradited to Spain to stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.
Since his detention 11 months ago the 84-year-old general has been under house arrest near London awaiting a decision. The ailing Gen Pinochet is unlikely to be fit enough to attend the court; he was taken to hospital twice last week for medical tests and there have been calls for him to be freed on humanitarian grounds.
The case has caused tremendous embarrassment to the centreright Spanish government. While publicly it has tried to maintain a safe distance from the judiciary, it is an open secret that it does not want him to be brought to Spain for trial.
Chile is one of Spain's most important trading partners in the Americas, and the business community fears that by antagonising the Chilean state their investments could suffer. Diplomatic relations between Spain and Chile have been seriously strained; the Chilean ambassador to Madrid was recalled to Santiago for consultations two weeks ago. The Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Abel Matutes, has made it clear he welcomes the proposal to transfer the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
At first those on the left appeared to favour Gen Pinochet facing trial, but the idea has opened unhappy wounds of Spain's own history and forced some of them to rethink. Spain passed through its own political transition by making a conscious decision after 1975 to sweep the past under the carpet.
The former prime minister, Mr Felipe Gonzalez, angered many fellow Socialists last month when he reminded them: "I carried out Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy, and I would not have welcomed anyone interfering in that process."
He added fuel to the fire this weekend when he said ironically: "I had always understood that we relinquished the capacity to impart justice in the colonies 180 years ago."
The decision in London is not expected until mid-October, and lawyers warn that the case could drag out until well into next year.