Letter: George cares

Sir: May I correct the impression under which several of your recent correspondents (perhaps encouraged by your own reporting of these matters) seem to be labouring? Namely, that the Archbishop of Canterbury has called for the release of General Pinochet.

He has done no such thing. The reality is that the Archbishop was asked a specific question: whether, in the light of comments by Baroness Thatcher, it was morally right for a man of 82, claiming diplomatic immunity, to be arrested in his hospital bed.

The Archbishop, while making it clear he was not commenting on legal or political aspects of the case, expressed the hope that the personal treatment of General Pinochet during this process would be characterised by compassion.

This was not, and was not intended to be, a pre-emptive judgement about the outcome of this complex process.