Former guerilla who fought extradition expects political asylum

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(7 Jul 2005) SHOTLIST • • 1. Wide of new conference at the League of Human Rights NGO • 2. Former Chilean guerilla Galvarino Apablaza sitting next to his lawyer, shaking hands prior to news conference • 3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Galvarino Apablaza, former Chilean Guerrilla: • There's not a single piece of evidence presented by the Chilean government and by the Chilean judge that proves the accusations made against me. • 4. Cutaway cameraman • 5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Galvarino Apablaza, former Chilean Guerrilla: • The Chilean justice system is stuck in the dictatorship era, it is attached to that institution.... let's not go that far. There are currently judges on the circuit that were part of military trials. • 6. News conference • 7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rodolfo Yanzon, Galvarino Apablaza's lawyer: • We've made a request to the Argentine government and to the United Nations to accept the refugee status that Apablaza Guerra has, and therefore give him legal protection so he can stay in our country due to the political persecution that still exists against those who fight against Pinochet. • 8. Cutaway • 9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Galvarino Apablaza, former Chilean Guerrilla: • And finally, I would like to comment on the issues related to the trial attempts against the tyrant (referring Pinochet). There have been various attempts of trials and hearings against him for serious crimes, but he hasn't been accused for any of those. And today the only chance that remains is to try him for economic crimes. • 10. Galvarino Apablaza sitting next to his wife (left) and his lawyer (right) • • STORYLINE • • A former guerrilla whose extradition to his native Chile was blocked by an Argentine judge said he now expects to be granted political asylum in Argentina. • • Sergio Galvarino Apablaza is charged in Chile with masterminding the 1991 assassination of a prominent right wing senator and the kidnapping of a newspaper executive. • • At a news conference in Buenos Aires on Wednesday he said there was not a single piece of evidence against him. • • He accused the Chilean justice system of being stuck in the dictatorship era referring to the regime of Augusto Pinochet, whom he fought when he was leader of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR), an urban guerrilla gang. • • The FPMR staged a number of armed attacks, including a 1986 attempt on Pinochet's life that took the lives of six the dictator's bodyguards. • • Pinochet was not harmed. • • Apablaza is charged in Chile with responsibility in the assassination of Senator Jaime Guzman and the four-month kidnapping of newspaper executive Cristian Edwards. • • Both crimes occurred in 1991, when civilian rule had been restored in Chile, but Apablaza claimed Pinochet still retained considerable power. • • Apablaza has denied responsibility in either attack, saying that by the time his guerrilla gang had split up, he was had not influence on a splinter group. • • Chilean officials insist, however, that Apablaza remained member of a group that refused to stop armed struggle. • • Chile sought his extradition, but Judge Claudio Bonadio on Monday turned down the request. • • Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said his government will appeal, taking the case to the Argentine Supreme Court. • • Apablaza was arrested in November last year near Buenos Aires. He had been living there underground for several years. • • A Chilean court meanwhile, has stripped Pinochet of immunity from prosecution in a human rights case involving the killing of more than 100 dissidents. • • It is the fourth time Pinochet, who faces numerous lawsuits on human rights grounds, has been stripped of his immunity. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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