Death the final escape for Pinochet

Wellington man Jorge Sandoval won't say he is glad former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is dead, but every day he remembers having his fingernails pulled out by the Pinochet regime.

Mr Sandoval, who was born in Chile but fled to New Zealand as a political refugee, said yesterday that Pinochet was "not man enough" to face up to his crimes.

Pinochet, 91, died yesterday after years of evading charges over the deaths of thousands of his political rivals, as well as accusations of corruption and siphoning off tens of millions of dollars into overseas bank accounts.

Mr Sandoval, a cycling and sports promoter, was just 17 when arrested in 1973 by the military in Chile for belonging to a left-wing student organisation.

He had a year in a concentration camp, and during seven days of torture had fingernails ripped out, was given electric shocks and saw his best friend killed. After his release he fled to Argentina, then to New Zealand as a political refugee.

Mr Sandoval said yesterday he could not say he was glad Pinochet was dead. "I don't know what sort of person is happy when someone dies because at the end of the day everyone, no matter how good or how bad you are, you've got your family who believe in you, and trust you and love you, and Mr Pinochet has his family.

"But then putting everything into perspective, we've got the mothers whose sons were killed, the sons whose parents were killed, the husbands whose wives were raped and houses were destroyed."

Mr Sandoval was in no doubt that Pinochet was ultimately responsible for the worst excesses of his repressive regime. "My only disappointment that he's dead - I'm not unhappy that he died - is that he was never brought to justice. We Chileans know exactly what he did."

Though some military generals had been convicted and jailed, Pinochet was not, despite being the top man, and therefore responsible. "This guy Pinochet was never man enough to front up."

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