The international effort to prevent the return of Gen Augusto Pinochet to Chile got under way at the High Court in London yesterday when lawyers representing the Belgian government said the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, would be acting "unlawfully and irrationally" if he were now to halt extradition proceedings against the former dictator.
A decision is expected later this week on an application lodged by Belgium and six human rights organisations for a judicial review of Mr Straw's declaration that he was "minded" to send Gen Pinochet back to Chile because he was unfit to stand trial.
The action at the High Court asserts that interested parties have been unable to make proper representations to the Home Secretary on the medical evidence on which he based his proposal because they have not been allowed to see the former dictator's medical records.
Belgium is one of three countries, along with France and Switzerland, which filed extradition requests after Spain requested Gen Pinochet's extradition in October 1998.
Belgium and the human rights organisations also argue the panel of doctors who examined Gen Pinochet should have included a psychiatrist specialising in the elderly.
They are also arguing that doctors appointed by the interested parties should have been present during the examination, and that Mr Straw has breached international co-operation agreements by failing to include such safeguards in the medical process.
While the hearing proceeded in the High Court, the Conservative MP, Mr Gerald Howarth, said he would lodge a formal protest with the Belgian embassy over what he called the country's "offensive interference" in the Pinochet extradition case.
In the High Court, Mr Jonathan Sumption QC, for the Home Secretary, rejected the argument that Mr Straw was under any obligation to arrange for doctors appointed by interested parties to be present during Gen Pinochet's medical examination.
He argued that the Belgian authorities and interested parties had simply not been happy with the conclusions reached by the doctors, and that there was "absolutely no basis" for their application for judicial review.
It was not possible, he argued, for Mr Straw to regard Gen Pinochet's extradition as nothing more than a symbol for the outrage that most people felt about the events in Chile during the 1970s.
He said the Home Secretary had reached his proposal fairly. "The stronger the feelings people have against Gen Pinochet, the more important it is that this function should be conducted with detachment and compassion."
Ms Presiley Baxendale QC, for the Belgian government, acknowledged that Gen Pinochet had refused the Home Secretary permission to release the full details of his medical records. However, in "the interests of justice", Mr Straw could still have overridden medical confidentiality.