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rafmed

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Mexico extradites ex-Argentine naval officer to Spain

Mexico has extradited former Argentine naval officer Ricardo Miguel Cavallo to Spain, where he is charged with genocide and terrorism under Argentina's former ruling junta. Spain asked Mexico to hand over Cavallo in 2000, following his arrest in the coastal city of Cancun. According to the Spanish indictment, between January 1977 and October 1978, Cavallo belonged to a special operations group that was actively involved in kidnapping and torturing people. Human Rights Watch greeted the Mexican supreme court decision to extradite Cavallo as a victory for the principle of universal jurisdiction for those indicted on war crimes. In a report made public in 1984, the Argentine truth commission named 8,961 people who disappeared under the military dictatorship.

www.dw-world.de



Argentine junta officer extradited



A former Argentine naval officer, Ricardo Cavallo, has been extradited to Spain to face charges of genocide and terrorism.
Mr Cavallo had been fighting extradition since being arrested in Mexico three years ago.

Earlier this month, the Mexican supreme court upheld an extradition request from a Spanish judge who wants to put Mr Cavallo on trial for alleged human rights abuses during the rule of the Argentine military in the 1970s.

Two Spanish Interpol agents arrived in Mexico City on Friday to take charge of Mr Cavallo and accompany him on his journey to Spain.

According to the Spanish indictment against Mr Cavallo, between January 1977 and October 1978 he belonged to a special operations group that was actively involved in kidnapping and torturing people perceived as leftist by the military.

The Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, alleges that Mr Cavallo tortured prisoners at the Argentine Navy Mechanical School, one of the most notorious centres of repression during the country's "dirty war".

Mr Cavallo says he was in Argentina's military at the time but he has denied involvement in any human rights abuses.

'Universal jurisdiction'

Mr Cavallo was arrested in the southern Mexican resort of Cancun in 2000 after a newspaper report said that five former political prisoners had identified him as their torturer.

His extradition was made possible under the concept of "universal jurisdiction" - that crimes committed in one country can be tried in another.

Up to 30,000 people were killed or "disappeared" during the Argentine military government's campaigns against leftist opponents.

During the 1970s and 1980s, many Latin American nations were ruled by the military.

Human rights groups hope that the extradition of Mr Cavallo will open up the way for further extraditions of alleged human rights abusers.

Mr Garzon is the same judge who tried to have the former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet extradited from London.

That process failed after British judges decided that Mr Pinochet was unfit to stand trial.



www.bbc.co.uk
 
I wish Britain had been as cooperative as this to Spain with the extradition of General Augusto Pinochet.

Unfortunately, thanks to various interests (it was probably the one of very few times that Amnesty International and Margaret Thatcher were arguing for the rights of the same person) we all know how that ended.

I'm glad for Spain, and for justice.

Ant.
 
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