An Evening with Philippe Sands
The author and barrister discusses his new book uncovering a chilling historical crime that has real world impact today, in conversation with Baroness Hale.
With a unique blend of memoir, detective story and courtroom drama, Sands exposes the chilling truth behind the lives of two men and their destinies in his new book, 38 Londres Street. This is the story of impunity, a perpetrator hiding in plain sight and the lasting impact of historical crimes, which Sands discusses with Baroness Brenda Hale, the former President of the UK Supreme Court.
Santiago, Chile
Under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, the unassuming house at 38 Londres Street holds a dark secret. This is where people are taken to be disappeared.
Punta Arenas, Patagonia
Walther Rauff, manager of a king crab cannery, hides not only his history as an SS officer but a sinister connection to Londres Street.
London, 1998
A young Philippe Sands is approached to advise Pinochet, facing arrest for his crimes. Instead, he chooses to act as a barrister for a human rights organisation – igniting a decades-long investigation into the hidden links between the horrors of the 1940s and those of our own times…
Sands is professor of Public Understanding of Law at UCL, visiting professor at Harvard Law School and a practising barrister at 11 KBW. He has been involved in many significant international cases in recent years, including Pinochet, Congo, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Guantanamo, Chagos and the Rohingya.
He is the author of Lawless World, Torture Team, East West Street (winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction) and Sunday Times bestsellers The Ratline and The Last Colony. He has served as President of English PEN and a member of the board of the Hay Festival.
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