party explains that since the complainant was not one of the civil parties in the Spanish criminal proceeding against General Pinochet, he would not have had any right to compensation under the Spanish proceedings. 4.5 As to the claim that the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs disobeyed a judicial order (mandato judicial), the State party indicates that this claim was brought by the complainant before the Tribunal Supremo, which dismissed the claim on the grounds that under Spanish law, as interpreted by the Tribunal Supremo, there was no such judicial order that the Minister was bound to obey. Moreover, in the Spanish democratic order, certain domains are properly within the political discretion of the Executive. The State party emphasizes that it was not the Spanish Government, but the British Government, which, in the exercise of its political discretion, decided not to extradite General Pinochet to Spain, Belgium or Switzerland, and decided instead to permit his return to Chile. 4.6 The State party further argues that the Convention against Torture does not impose upon any one State the exclusive or even preferential competence to try a person accused of torture, in theinstant case, an exclusive or preferential competence of Spain to try a Chilean citizen for crimes committed in Chile. Spain acted correctly in requesting extradition from the United Kingdom, but this extradition was not granted because of the exercise of political discretion by the United Kingdom. Further comments by the complainant 5. In submissions dated 6 March 2001 and 18 October 2001, the complainant reiterates his prior statements of fact and arguments. He refers to his appearance as a witness in the case before the Audiencia Nacional on 7 May 1997, in which he declared that in 1973, when he was 17 years old, he and other engineering students had been arrested and taken to a football stadium converted into a detention centre, where they were subjected to various kinds of physical and mental abuse. The complainant appeared as a witness, but could have joined the criminal action against General Pinochet pursuant to articles 108, 111 and 112 of the Spanish Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal. He further claims that the Committee should consider that domestic remedies have been exhausted, since in the circumstances of the case, an appeal on amparo to the Constitutional Court would not be an effective remedy, bearing in mind that the Resolution of 30 May 2000 rejecting the complainant's appeal was not a summary dismissal but a reasoned judgement, and that the Constitutional Court recognizes the competence of the lower criminal courts to interpret the Spanish penal law. Issues and proceedings before the Committee