Pinochet lawyers attack judge's links to Amnesty International

             LONDON -- (AP) -- Former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet was entitled to
             know that a judge who denied him immunity from arrest heads the fund-raising arm
             of Amnesty International, his lawyer said Wednesday.

             Amnesty has been a key player in the international campaign to bring Pinochet to
             trial for gross human rights abuses.

             A judge ``should not be, or be seen to be, in passionate opposition of a
             defendant,'' Pinochet's lawyer, Clare Montgomery, told a five-judge tribunal.

             The tribunal is being asked to overturn the earlier judgment by five other members
             of the House of Lordsagainst the 83-year-old retired general.

             The decision could come today, judges of the second panel said Wednesday.

             If Pinochet wins, the judges would order a new hearing in January, setting back
             Spain's efforts to extradite him.

             Pinochet's lawyers argue that the decision is invalid because one of the judges who
             voted against him, Lord Justice Leonard Hoffmann, is the director of Amnesty
             International Charity, the fund-raising arm of the human rights group.

             In addition, Hoffmann's wife, Gillian, has worked at the group's London
             headquarters since 1977.

             Lawyers for the Spanish government and for Amnesty said neither of the
             Hoffmanns played a role in the anti-Pinochet campaign.