§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will place in the Library Fenella Tayler's letter of 5 November 1999 to Michael Caplan, acting for Senator Pinochet; [108463]
(2) what were the contents of Fenella Tayler's letter of 26 November 1999 on behalf of the Home Office to Michael Caplan, acting for Senator Pinochet. [108459]
§ Mr. StrawI have placed in the Library copies of the correspondence relating to the medical report which has been disclosed in the application brought by Amnesty International and other human rights groups for permission to bring judicial review proceedings against the Secretary of State.
§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) for what reasons the Director of Public Prosecutions was not consulted under Article 7 of the UN Convention on Torture about his decision to abandon the extradition proceedings against Senator Pinochet consequent on the medical examination; and what representations he has received from the Director of Public Prosecutions on this matter; [108637]
(2) if the medical report on Senator Pinochet has been tendered under Article 7 of the UN Convention on Torture for examination by the (a) DPP and (b) Solicitor-General; and if he will make a statement; [108598]
(3) on which date and by what instrument the (a) DPP and (b) Solicitor-General indicated their approval, in accordance with Article 7 of the United Nation's Convention on Torture, of the Home Secretary's decision on the abandonment of the extradition proceedings against Senator Pinochet consequent on his medical examination. [108460]
§ Mr. StrawArticle 7(1) of the Convention states that
The State Party in the territory under whose jurisdiction a person alleged to have committed any offence referred to in Article 4 is found shall in the cases contemplated in Article 5, if it does not extradite him, submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution".I have not yet taken a decision on whether to bring the extradition proceedings against Senator Pinochet to an end.
As I indicated in the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) on 20 January 2000, Official Report, column 560W, a copy of the medical report on Senator Pinochet was forwarded to the Solicitor-General and Director of Public Prosecutions on 11 January.
§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what purpose Fenella Tayler(a) wrote to and (b) telephoned Michael Caplan, acting for Senator Pinochet, on 11 November 1999, concerning 747W a request that the report of doctors who had examined Senator Pinochet be brought to the attention of Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland; and what was (i) his response and (ii) the date of his response. [108461]
§ Mr. StrawI have placed Mrs. Tayler's letter of 11 January to Mr. Caplan (to which I assume the Question refers) and his reply of 11 January, clarified by a further letter of 13 January, along with related correspondence, in the Library. As Mrs. Tayler's letter explains, Senator Pinochet's solicitors were asked to agree urgently that the report of the doctors should be disclosed to the four states with an outstanding extradition application relating to Senator Pinochet. Senator Pinochet's solicitors replied on the same day, refusing the request.
§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason Fenella Tayler's letter of 5 November 1999 to Senator Pinochet's lawyers offered to keep confidential the report of the doctors who were to examine the Senator. [108458]
§ Mr. StrawAssurances of confidentiality were given because it appeared to me (i) that Senator Pinochet had a right, subject to any overriding public interest, to have personal information about his health kept confidential, (ii) because I wished to have authoritative advice about Senator Pinochet's state of health and I was conscious that he had no obligation to submit to a medical examination, and (iii) that it was appropriate to ask Senator Pinochet for his consent only for the purpose for which I needed the information, namely to equip myself to perform my own functions and to enable the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Solicitor-General to perform theirs.
§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which(a) Chilean and (b) British doctor was nominated by Senator Pinochet's lawyers to witness the consideration of the doctors' report on Senator Pinochet, by the DPP or Solicitor-General; when this meeting was held; and if he will make a statement. [108462]
§ Mr. StrawNo such nomination or meeting has taken place. Two doctors nominated by Senator Pinochet's legal representatives did observe the medical examination on Senator Pinochet conducted at my request.