The background against which the Torture Convention is set adds to the improbability of the proposition that the state parties to the Convention must have intended, directly or indirectly, to exclude state immunity ratione materiae. Earlier Conventions made provision for an international tribunal. In the case of such Conventions, no question of par in parem non habet imperium arose; but heads of state were expressly mentioned, so ensuring that they are subject to the jurisdiction of the international tribunal. In the case of the Taking of Hostages Convention and the Torture Convention, jurisdiction was vested in the national courts of state parties to the Convention. Here, therefore, for the first time the question of waiver of state immunity arose in an acute form. Curiously, the suggestion appears to be that state immunity was waived only in the case of the Torture Convention. Apart from that curiosity, however, for state parties to exclude state immunity in a Convention of this kind would be a remarkable surrender of the basic protection afforded by international law to all sovereign states, which underlines the necessity for immunity to be waived in a treaty, if at all, by express provision; and, having regard in particular to the express reference to heads of state in earlier Conventions, state parties would have expected to find an express provision in the Torture Convention if it had been agreed that state immunity was excluded. That it should be done by implication in the Torture Convention seems, in these circumstances, to be most improbable.

I add that the fact that 116 states have become party to the Torture Convention reinforces the strong impression that none of them appreciated that, by signing the Convention, each of them would silently agree to the exclusion of state immunity ratione materiae. Had it been appreciated that this was so, I strongly suspect that the number of signatories would have been far smaller. It should not be forgotten that national representatives involved in the preliminary discussions would have had to report back to their governments about the negotiation of an important international convention of this kind. Had such a representative, or indeed a senior civil servant in a country whose government was considering whether the country should become a party to the Convention, been asked by his Secretary of State the question whether state immunity would be preserved, it is unlikely that a point would have occurred to him which had been overlooked by all the fourteen counsel (including, as I have said, three distinguished professors of international law) appearing for the appellants and their supporters in the present case. It is far more probable that he would have had in mind the clear and simple words of the Chief Justice of the United States in the Amerada Hess and have answered that, since there was no mention of state immunity in the Convention, it could not have been affected. This demonstrates how extraordinary it would be, and indeed what a trap would be created for the unwary, if state immunity could be waived in a treaty sub silentio. Common sense therefore supports the conclusion reached by principle and authority that this cannot be done.

(e) Conclusion.

For these reasons I am of the opinion that the proposed implication must be rejected not only as contrary to principle and authority, but also as contrary to common sense.

VII. The conclusion of Lord Hope of Craighead

My noble and learned friend Lord Hope of Craighead, having concluded that, so far as torture is concerned, only charges 2 and 4 (insofar as they apply to the period after 29 September 1988) and charge 30 survive the application of the double criminality point, has nevertheless concluded that the benefit of state immunity is not available to Senator Pinochet in respect of these three charges. He has reached this conclusion on the basis that (1) the two conspiracy charges, having regard to paragraph 9(3) of the Extradition Request, reveal charges that Senator Pinochet was party to a conspiracy to carry out a systematic, if not a widespread, attack on a section of the civil population, i.e. to torture those who opposed or might oppose his government, which would constitute a crime against humanity (see, e.g., Article 7(1) of the Rome Convention of 1998); and (2) the single act of torture alleged in charge 30 shows that an alleged earlier conspiracy to carry out such torture, constituting a crime against humanity, was still alive when that act was perpetrated after 29 September 1988. Furthermore, although he is (as I understand the position) in general agreement with Lord Slynn of Hadley's analysis, he considers that such a crime against humanity, or a conspiracy to commit such a crime, cannot be the subject of a claim to state immunity in a national court, even where it is alleged to have taken place before 1 January 1990.

I must first point out that, apart from the single act of torture alleged in charge 30, the only other cases of torture alleged to have occurred since 29 September 1988 are two cases, referred to in the Extradition Request but not made the subject of charges, which are alleged to have taken place in October 1988. Before that, there is one case alleged in 1984, before which it is necessary to go as far back as 1977. In these circumstances I find it very difficult to see how, after 29 September 1988, it could be said that there was any systematic or widespread campaign of torture, constituting an attack on the civilian population, so as to amount to a crime against humanity. Furthermore, insofar as it is suggested that the single act of torture alleged in charge 30 represents the last remnant of a campaign which existed in the 1970s, there is, quite apart from the factual difficulty of relating the single act to a campaign which is alleged to have been in existence so long ago, the question whether it would be permissible, in the context of extradition, to have regard to the earlier charges of torture, excluded under the double criminality rule, in order to establish that the single act of torture was part of a campaign of systematic torture which was still continuing in June 1989. This raises a question under section 6(4)(b) and (5) of the Extradition Act 1989, provisions which are by no means clear in themselves or easy to apply in the unusual circumstances of the present case.

In truth, however, the real problem is that, since the appellants did not consider the position which would arise if they lost the argument on the double criminality point, they did not address questions of this kind. If they had done so, the matter would have been argued out before the Appellate Committee, and Miss Montgomery and Dr. Collins, would have had an opportunity to reply and would no doubt have had a good deal to say on the subject. This is after all a criminal matter, and it is no part of the function of the court to help the prosecution to improve their case. In these circumstances it would not, in my opinion, be right to assist the prosecution by now taking such a point as this, when they have failed to do so at the hearing, in order to decide whether or not this is a case in which it would be lawful for extradition to take place.

I wish to add that, in any event, for the reasons given by Lord Slynn of Hadley to which I have already referred, I am of the opinion that in 1989 there was no settled practice that state immunity ratione materiae was not available in criminal proceedings before a national court concerned with an alleged crime against humanity, or indeed as to what constituted a crime against humanity (see [1998] 3 W.L.R. 1456 at pp. 1473C-D and 1474C-1475B). This is a matter which I have already considered in Part IV of this opinion.

For all these reasons I am, with great respect, unable to accompany the reasoning of my noble and learned friend on these particular points.

VIII. Conclusion

For the above reasons, I am of the opinion that by far the greater part of the charges against Senator Pinochet must be excluded as offending against the double criminality rule; and that, in respect of the surviving charges--charge 9, charge 30 and charges 2 and 4 (insofar as they can be said to survive the double criminality rule)--Senator Pinochet is entitled to the benefit of state immunity ratione materiae as a former head of state. I would therefore dismiss the appeal of the Government of Spain from the decision of the Divisional Court.

LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD

My Lords,

This is an appeal against the decision of the Divisional Court to quash the provisional warrants of 16 and 22 October 1998 which were issued by the metropolitan stipendiary magistrate under section 8(1)(b) of the Extradition Act 1989. The application to quash had been made on two grounds. The first was that Senator Pinochet as a former head of state of the Republic of Chile was entitled to immunity from arrest and extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom in respect of acts committed when he was head of state. The second was that the charges which had been made against him specified conduct which would not have been punishable in England when the acts were done, with the result that these were not extradition crimes for which it would be lawful for him to be extradited.

The Divisional Court quashed the first warrant, in which it was alleged that Senator Pinochet had murdered Spanish citizens in Chile, on the ground that it did not disclose any offence for which he could be extradited to Spain. Its decision on that point has not been challenged in this appeal. It also quashed the second warrant, in which it was alleged that Senator Pinochet was guilty of torture, hostage-taking, conspiracy to take hostages and conspiracy to commit murder. It did so on the ground that Senator Pinochet was entitled to immunity as a former head of state from the process of the English courts. The court held that the question whether these were offences for which, if he had no immunity, it would be lawful for him to be extradited was not a matter to be considered in that court at that stage. But Lord Bingham of Cornhill C.J. said that it was not necessary for this purpose that the conduct alleged constituted a crime which would have been punishable in this country at the time when it was alleged to have been committed abroad.

When this appeal was first heard in your Lordships' House the argument was directed almost entirely to the question whether Senator Pinochet was entitled as a former head of state to claim sovereign immunity in respect of the charges alleged against him in the second provisional warrant. It was also argued that the offences of torture and hostage-taking were not offences for which he could be extradited until these became offences for which a person could be prosecuted extra-territorially in the United Kingdom. But the second argument appears to have been regarded as no more than a side issue at that stage. This is not surprising in view of the terms of the second provisional warrant. The offences which it specified extended over periods lasting well beyond the date when the conduct became extra-territorial offences in this country. Only Lord Lloyd of Berwick dealt with this argument in his speech, and he confined himself to one brief comment. He said that it involved a misunderstanding of section 2 of the Extradition Act 1989, as in his view section 2(1)(a) referred to conduct which would constitute an offence in the United Kingdom now, not to conduct which would have constituted an offence then: [1998] 3 W.L.R. 1456, 1481F-G.

The offences alleged against Senator Pinochet

Four offences were set out in the second provisional warrant of 22 October 1998. These were:

(1) torture between 1 January 1988 and December 1992;

(2) conspiracy to torture between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 1992;

(3)  (a) hostage-taking and (b) conspiracy to take hostages between 1  January 1982 and 31 January 1992; and

(4) conspiracy to commit murder between January 1976 and December  1992.

These dates must be compared with the date of the coup which brought Senator Pinochet to power in Chile, which was 11 September 1973, and the date when he ceased to be head of state, which was 11 March 1990. Taking the dates in the second provisional warrant at their face value, it appears (a) that he was not being charged with any acts of torture prior to 1 January 1988, (b) that he was not being charged with any acts of hostage-taking or conspiracy to take hostages prior to I January 1982 and (c) that he was not being charged with any conspiracy to commit murder prior to January 1976. On the other hand he was being charged with having committed these offences up to December 1992, well after the date when he ceased to be head of state in Chile.

The second appellant has taken the opportunity of the interval between the end of the first hearing of this appeal and the second hearing to obtain further details from the Spanish judicial authorities. He has explained that the provisional warrant was issued under circumstances of urgency and that the facts are more developed and complex than first appeared. And a number of things have happened since the date of the first hearing which, it is submitted, mean that the provisional warrant no longer has any life or effect. On 9 December 1998 the Secretary of State issued an authority to proceed under section 7(4) of the Act of 1989. On 10 December 1998 the Spanish indictment was preferred in Madrid, and on 24 December 1998 further particulars were drafted in accordance with Article 13 of the European Convention on Extradition for furnishing with the extradition request.

Mr. Alun Jones Q.C. for the appellants said that it would be inappropriate for your Lordships in these circumstances to confine an examination of the facts to those set out in the provisional warrant and that it would be unfair to deprive him of the ability to rely on material which has been served within the usual time limits imposed in the extradition process. He invited your Lordships to examine all the material which was before the Secretary of State in December, including the formal request which was signed at Madrid on 3 November 1998 and the further material which has now been submitted by the Spanish Government. Draft charges have been prepared, of the kind which are submitted in extradition proceedings as a case is presented to the magistrate at the beginning of the main hearing under section 9(8) of the Act. This has been done to demonstrate how the charges which are being brought by the Spanish judicial authorities may be expressed in terms of English criminal law, to show the offences which he would have committed by his conduct against the law of this country.

The crimes which are alleged in the Spanish request are murder on such a scale as to amount to genocide and terrorism, including torture and hostage-taking. The Secretary of State has already stated in his authority to proceed that Senator Pinochet is not to be extradited to Spain for genocide. So that part of the request must now be left out of account. But my impression is that the omission of the allegation of genocide is of little consequence in view of the scope which is given in Spanish law to the allegations of murder and terrorism.

It is not our function to investigate the allegations which have been made against Senator Pinochet, and it is right to place on record the fact that his counsel, Miss Montgomery Q.C., told your Lordships that they are all strenuously denied by him. It is necessary to set out the nature and some of the content of these allegations, on the assumption that they are supported by the information which the Spanish judicial authorities have made available. This is because they form an essential part of the background to the issues of law which have been raised in this appeal. But the following summary must not be taken as a statement that the allegations have been shown to be true by the evidence, because your Lordships have not considered the evidence.

The material which has been gathered together in the extradition request by the Spanish judicial authorities alleges that Senator Pinochet was party to a conspiracy to commit the crimes of murder, torture and hostage-taking, and that this conspiracy was formed before the coup. He is said to have agreed with other military figures that they would take over the functions of government and subdue all opposition to their control of it by capturing and torturing those who opposed them, who might oppose them or who might be thought by others to be likely to oppose them. The purpose of this campaign of torture was not just to inflict pain. Some of those who were to be tortured were to be released, to spread words of the steps that would be taken against those who opposed the conspirators. Many of those who were to be tortured were be subjected to various other forms of atrocity, and some of them were be killed. The plan was to be executed in Chile and in several other counties outside Chile.

When the plan was put into effect victims are said to have been abducted, tortured and murdered pursuant to the conspiracy. This was done first in Chile, and then in other countries in South America, in the United States and in Europe. Many of the acts evidencing the conspiracy are said to have been committed in Chile before 11 September 1973. Some people were tortured at a naval base in August 1973. Large numbers of persons were abducted, tortured and murdered on 11 September 1973 in the course of the coup before the junta took control and Senator Pinochet was appointed its President. These acts continued during the days and weeks after the coup. A period of repression ensued, which is said to have been at its most intense in 1973 and 1974. The conspiracy is said to have continued for several years thereafter, but to have declined in intensity during the decade before Senator Pinochet retired as head of state on 11 March 1990. It is said that the acts committed in other countries outside Chile are evidence of the primary conspiracies and of a variety of sub-conspiracies within those states.

The draft charges which have been prepared in order to translate these broad accusations into terms of English law may be summarised as follows:

(1) conspiracy to torture between 1 January 1972 and 10 September 1973  and between 1 August 1973 and 1 January 1990 - charges 1, 2 and 5;

(2) conspiracy to take hostages between 1 August 1973 and 1 January 1990  - charge 3;

(3) conspiracy to torture in furtherance of which murder was committed  in various countries including Italy, France, Spain and Portugal  between 1 January 1972 and 1 January 1990 - charge 4; (4) torture between 1 August 1973 and 8 August 1973 and on 11  September 1973 - charges 6 and 8 [there is no charge 7];

(5) conspiracy to murder in Spain between 1 January 1975 and 31  December 1976 and in Italy on 6 October 1975 - charges 9 and 12;

(6) attempted murder in Italy on 6 October 1975 - charges 10 and 11;

(7) torture on various occasions between 11 September 1973 and May  1977 - charges 13 to 29 and 31 to 32; and

(8) torture on 24 June 1989 - charge 30.

This summary shows that some of the alleged conduct relates to the period before the coup when Senator Pinochet was not yet head of state. Charges 1 and 5 (conspiracy to torture) and charge 6 (torture) relate exclusively to that period. Charges 2 and 4 (conspiracy to torture) and charge 3 (conspiracy to take hostages) relate to conduct over many years including the period before the coup. None of the conduct now alleged extends beyond the period when Senator Pinochet ceased to be head of state.

Only one charge (charge 30 - torture on 24 June 1989) relates exclusively to the period after 29 September 1988 when section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, to which I refer later, was brought into effect. But charges 2 and 4 (conspiracy to torture) and charge 3 (conspiracy to take hostages) which relate to conduct over many years extend over this period also. Two acts of torture which are said to have occurred between 21 and 28 October 1988 are mentioned in the extradition request. They have not been included as separate counts in the list of draft charges, but it is important not to lose sight of the fact that the case which is being made against Senator Pinochet by the Spanish judicial authorities is that each act of torture has to be seen in the context of a continuing conspiracy to commit torture. As a whole, the picture which is presented is of a conspiracy to commit widespread and systematic torture and murder in order to obtain control of the government and, having done so, to maintain control of government by those means for as long as might be necessary.

Against that background it is necessary first to consider whether the relevant offences for the purposes of this appeal are those which were set out in the second provisional warrant or those which are set out in the draft charges which have been prepared in the light of the further information which has been obtained from the Spanish judicial authorities.

On one view it might be said that, as the appeal is against the decision of the Divisional Court to quash the second provisional warrant, your Lordships should be concerned only with the charges which were set out in that document. If that warrant was bad on the ground that the charges which it sets out are charges in respect of which Senator Pinochet has immunity, everything else that has taken place in reliance upon that warrant must be bad also. If he was entitled to immunity, no order should have been made against him in the committal proceedings and the Secretary of State should not have issued an authority to proceed. But Article 13 of the European Convention on Extradition which, following the enactment of the Extradition Act 1989, the United Kingdom has now ratified (see the European Convention on Extradition Order 1990, S.I. 1990 No. 1507), provides that if the information communicated by the requesting party is found to be insufficient to allow the requested party to make a decision in pursuance of the Convention the requested party may ask for the necessary supplementary information to be provided to it by the requesting party.

It is clear that the first provisional warrant was prepared in circumstances of some urgency, as it was believed that Senator Pinochet was about to leave the United Kingdom in order to return to Chile. Once begun, the procedure was then subject to various time limits. There was also the problem of translating the Spanish accusations, which cover so many acts over so long a period, into the terms of English criminal law. I do not think that it is surprising that the full extent of the allegations which were being made was not at first appreciated. In my opinion the Spanish judicial authorities were entitled to supplement the information which was originally provided in order to define more clearly the charges which were the subject of the request. On this view it would be right to regard the material which is now available as explanatory of the charges which the second provisional warrant was intended to comprise. Mr. Clive Nicholls Q.C. for Senator Pinochet said that he was content with this approach in the interests of finality.

Are the alleged offences "extradition crimes"?

If your Lordships are willing, as I suggest we should be, to examine this material it is necessary to subject it to further analysis. The starting point is section 1(1) of the Extradition Act 1989, which provides that a person who is accused in a foreign state of the commission of an extradition crime may be arrested and returned to that state in accordance with the extradition procedures in Part III of the Act. The expression "extradition crime" is defined in section 2 of the Act under two headings. The first, which is set out in section 2(1)(a), refers to

 "conduct in the territory of a foreign state . . . which, if it occurred in the United Kingdom, would constitute an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of twelve months, or any greater punishment, and which, however described in the law of the foreign state&!!;is so punishable under that law."

The second, which is set out in section 2(1)(b) read with section 2(2), refers to an extra-territorial offence against the law of a foreign state which is punishable under that law with imprisonment for a term of 12 months or any greater punishment, and which in corresponding circumstances would constitute an extra-territorial offence against the law of the United Kingdom punishable with imprisonment for a term of 12 months or any greater punishment.

For reasons which have been explained by my noble and learned friend Lord Browne-Wilkinson, the critical issue on the question of sovereign immunity relates to the effect of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 10 December 1984 ("the Torture Convention") and the offences which allege torture. As to those alleged offences which do not fall within the scope of the Torture Convention and which could not be prosecuted here under section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, any loss of immunity would have to be decided on other grounds. But there is no need to examine this question in the case of those alleged offences for which Senator Pinochet could not in any event be extradited. The purpose of the following analysis is to remove from the list of draft charges those charges which fall into that category either because they are not extradition crimes as defined by section 2 of the Extradition Act 1989 or because for any other reason other than on grounds of immunity they are charges on which Senator Pinochet could not be extradited.

This analysis proceeds on the basis that the definition of the expression "extradition crime" in section 2 of the Act of 1989 requires the conduct which is referred to in section 2(1)(a) to have been an offence which was punishable in the United Kingdom when that conduct took place. It also proceeds on the basis that it requires the extra-territorial offence which is referred to in section 2(1)(b) to have been an extra-territorial offence in the United Kingdom on the date when the offence took place. The principle of double criminality would suggest that this was the right approach, in the absence of an express provision to the contrary. The tenses used in section 2 seem to me to be equivocal on this point. They leave it open to examination in the light of the provisions of the Act as a whole. The argument in favour of the date when the conduct took place has particular force in the case of those offences listed in section 22(4) of the Act. These have been made extra-territorial offences in order to give effect to international conventions, but neither the conventions nor the provisions which gave effect to them were intended to operate retrospectively.

I respectfully agree with the reasons which my noble and learned friend Lord Browne-Wilkinson has given for construing the definition as requiring that the conduct must have been punishable in the United Kingdom when it took place, and that it is not sufficient for the appellants to show that it would be punishable here were it to take place now.

Hostage-taking

An offence under the Taking of Hostages Act 1982 is one of those offences, wherever the act takes place, which is deemed by section 22(6) of the Extradition Act 1989 to be an offence committed within the territory of any other state against whose law it is an offence. This provision gives effect to the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages of 18 December 1979 ("the Hostage Convention"). Under section 1 of the Act of 1982 hostage-taking is an extra-territorial offence against the law of the United Kingdom. Section 1(1) of that Act defines the offence in these terms:

 "A person, whatever his nationality, who, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, -

 (a) detains any other person ('the hostage'), and

 (b) in order to compel a State, international governmental organisation or person to do or to abstain from doing any act, threatens to kill, injure or continue to detain the hostage,

 commits an offence."

Mr. Jones accepted that he did not have particulars of any case of hostage-taking. He said that his case was that Senator Pinochet was involved in a conspiracy to take hostages for the purposes which were made unlawful by section 1 of the Act. Charge 3 of the draft charges, which is the only charge which alleges conspiracy to take hostages, states that the course of conduct which was to be pursued was to include the abduction and torture of persons as part of a campaign to terrify and subdue those who were disposed to criticise or oppose Senator Pinochet or his fellow conspirators. Those who were not detained were to be intimidated, through the accounts of survivors and by rumour, by fear that they might suffer the same fate. Those who had been detained were to be compelled to divulge information to the conspirators by the threatened injury and detention of others known to the abducted persons by the conspirators.

But there is no allegation that the conspiracy was to threaten to kill, injure or detain those who were being detained in order to compel others to do or to abstain from doing any act. The narrative shows that the alleged conspiracy was to subject persons already detained to threats that others would be taken and that they also would be tortured. This does not seem to me to amount to a conspiracy to take hostages within the meaning of section 1 of the Act of 1982. The purpose of the proposed conduct, as regards the detained persons, was to subject them to what can best be described as a form of mental torture.

One of the achievements of the Torture Convention was to provide an internationally agreed definition of torture which includes both physical and mental torture in the terms set out in Article 1:

 "For the purposes of this convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind . . . "

The offence of torture under English law is constituted by section 134(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which provides:

 "A public official or person acting in an official capacity, whatever his nationality, commits the offence of torture if in the United Kingdom or elsewhere he intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering on another in the performance or purported performance of his official duties."

Section 134(3) provides that it is immaterial whether the pain or suffering is physical or mental and whether it is caused by an act or an omission. So, in conformity with the Convention, the offence includes mental as well as physical torture. It seems to me that the conspiracy which charge 3 alleges against Senator Pinochet was a conspiracy to inflict mental torture, and not a conspiracy to take hostages.

I would hold therefore that it is not necessary for your Lordships to examine the Hostage Convention in order to see whether its terms were such as to deprive a former head of state of any immunity from a charge that he was guilty of hostage-taking. In my opinion Senator Pinochet is not charged with the offence of hostage-taking within the meaning of section 1 (1) of the Taking of Hostages Act 1982.

Conspiracy to murder and attempted murder

The charges of conspiracy to torture include allegations that it was part of the conspiracy that some of those who were abducted and tortured would thereafter be murdered. Charge 4 alleges that in furtherance of that agreement about four thousand persons of many nationalities were murdered in Chile and in various other countries outside Chile. Two other charges, charges 9 and 12, allege conspiracy to murder - in one case of a man in Spain and in the other of two people in Italy. Charge 9 states that Senator Pinochet agreed in Spain with others who were in Spain, Chile and France that the proposed victim would be murdered in Spain. Charge 12 does not say that anything was done in Spain in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy to murder in Italy. There is no suggestion in either of these charges that the proposed victims were to be tortured. Two further charges, charges 10 and 11, allege the attempted murder of the two people in Italy who were the subject of the conspiracy to commit murder there. Here again there is no suggestion that they were to be tortured before they were murdered.

Murder is a common law crime which, before it became an extra-territorial offence if committed in a convention country under section 4 of the Suppression of Terrorism Act 1978, could not be prosecuted in the United Kingdom if it was committed abroad except in the case of a murder committed abroad by a British citizen: Offences against the Person Act 1861, section 9. A murder or attempted murder committed by a person in Spain, whatever his nationality, is an extradition crime for the purposes of his extradition to Spain from the United Kingdom under section 2(1)(a) of the Extradition Act 1989 as it is conduct which would be punishable here if it occurred in this country. But the allegation relating to murders in Spain and elsewhere which is made against Senator Pinochet is not that he himself murdered or attempted to murder anybody. It is that the murders were carried out, or were to be carried out, in Spain and elsewhere as part of a conspiracy and that he was one of the conspirators.

Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 created a new statutory offence of conspiracy to commit an offence triable in England and Wales. The offence of conspiracy which was previously available at common law was abolished by section 5. Although the principal offence was defined in the statute more narrowly, in other respects it codified the pre-existing law. It came into force on 1 December 1977: S.I. 1977 No. 1682. Subsection (4) of that section provides:

 "In this Part of this Act 'offence' means an offence triable in England and Wales, except that it includes murder notwithstanding that the murder in question would not be so triable if committed in accordance with the intention of the parties to the agreement."