Kissinger May Face Chilean Court Over Coup Killing

The former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger may finally have to face court action over Washington's role in the overthrow of the Chilean government in 1973 and the bloody events that followed it.

Mr Kissinger has been formally asked by an investigating judge in Chile to respond to questions about the killing of an American citizen, Charles Horman, in the wake of the coup. The story of the journalist and film-maker's death became the basis for the 1982 film Missing.

Ever since the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in Britain in 1998, there have been attempts to show what part the US government played in the coup that brought him to power.

Of particular interest has been the issue of whether the US effectively gave the military dictatorship carte blanche in dealing with dissidents, even if they were American citizens.

Part of the impetus for the new legal moves has come from declassified documents. One such US state department memo, dated August 25 1976, says: "The GOC [government of Chile] might have believed this American could be killed without negative fallout from the USG [US government].

"There is some circumstantial evidence to suggest US intelligence may have played an unfortunate part in Horman's death. At best, it was limited to providing or confirming information that helped motivate his murder by the GOC. At worst, US intelligence was aware that GOC saw Horman in a rather serious light and US officials did nothing to discourage the logical outcome of GOC paranoia."

Juan Guzman, the judge leading the investigation, has determined that there are sufficient legal grounds to consider Mr Kissinger an important witness to the events surrounding Horman's death.

Witness statements from many of the key players in the case will be taken over the next six weeks.

Mr Kissinger's lawyers indicated this week that the matter should be dealt with by the US state department, as he was working there at the time. Mr Kissinger is said to be willing to assist with whatever he remembers from "those distant events".

Fabiola Letelier, a lawyer with the Chilean human rights group Codepu, has said that a number of "VIP surprises" will arrive in April to give evidence.

Codepu lawyers have also secured the cooperation of retired military officials in giving testimony. According to one lawyer, these officials include witnesses to Horman's execution.

Mrs Letelier said yesterday that more than 150 declassified documents "affect this case one way or another", and that Mr Kissinger appeared in several of them.