Pinochet charged on 35 counts of torture and GBH

LONG-AWAITED extradition proceedings against Augusto Pinochet began yesterday with the former dictator of Chile facing what were described as "some of the most serious allegations of crime ever to come before an English criminal court".

General Pinochet is fighting attempts to send him to Spain on charges of torture and conspiracy to torture allegedly carried out after he seized power in Chile, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.

The general was arrested in October last year. His continued detention in Britain has led to furious protests from supporters including the former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, and there has been pressure to release him from the former US president George Bush, the Pope and the Dalai Lama.

General Pinochet, who was not in court, faces 35 counts alleging conspiracy to "abduct, inflict severe pain and suffering and causing grievous bodily harm". Bow Street magistrates' court in London heard details of torture allegedly carried out by agents of the secret police force set up by General Pinochet, Dina, and its successor, the CNI (Centre for National Information). The torture led to some of the prisoners dying.

The methods of interrogation included the "grill", in which prisoners were strapped down and subjected to severe electric shocks, the "submarine", in which detainees' heads were held under water, and the "aeroplane" where bodies were suspended from the ceiling until their limbs felt "as if they would tear off". Abducted women were kept naked, systematically raped and threatened with the rape of members of their families, including young children. Some inmates were kept in small cages in which they could not stand up properly. On occasions, the court was told, prisoners committed suicide, unable to endure the suffering any longer.

Alun Jones QC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, representing Spain, read out the list of charges against General Pinochet prepared by the Spanish investigative judge Baltasar Garzon.

Lincoyan Caceras Pena, arrested on 3 May 1989, was so severely beaten that he died from his injuries, as did 17-year-old Marcos Quczada Yanez, who had been given electric shock treatment after being picked up on 24 June 1989, Mr Jones said. Jessica Antonia Ninoles and Andrea Paulsen Figuera were severely abused and told that their young daughters would face the same treatment. The court also heard details of a prisoner who was subjected to the "aeroplane" before being used by his guards in a form of Russian roulette, and another who was forced to take hallucinogenic drugs. Luis Orlando Miranda, seized on 22 August 1989, jumped out of the window of his interrogation room after prolonged torture and "severe pain and suffering", the court was told.

Mr Jones told Ronald Bartle, the deputy chief Metropolitan stipendiary magistrate, that under the European convention on extradition signed by both Britain and Spain, it was not the duty of the court to decide General Pinochet's guilt, nor did Spain have to prove there was a case to answer. Mr Bartle simply had to assess whether the general had been accused of an extraditable crime.

General Pinochet's counsel Clive Nicholls QC, told the court that the former dictator was "here today with his hands tied behind his back". He could not challenge the truth or otherwise of the information being presented against him.

Mr Nicholls added that in his client's defence he would argue that General Pinochet "is not responsible for the criminal conduct which he is accused of".

The proceedings, which are expected to last five days, follow 11 months of extensive legal actions, during which the House of Lords ruled that the 83-year-old former dictator did not enjoy immunity from prosecution as a former head of state.

Outside the court, demonstrators for and against the life senator shouted abuse at each other. One follower of the general, clutching a Harrods shopping bag, said: "Those who died deserved to die. They were communists and subversives. General Pinochet saved our country."