Argentina refuses to extradite ex-junta leader for 'dirty war' crime
BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina will not send former junta leader Jorge Videla to Germany to face charges in the abduction and murder of a German woman during the South American nation's Dirty War.
A criminal law court on Tuesday rejected Germany's extradition request for Videla, wanted in the March 1977 kidnapping and killing of activist Elisabeth Kaesemann. The court ruled crimes committed in Argentina are first subject to its judiciary.
In the past, denying extradition effectively thwarted prosecution, but the repeal in 2005 of long-standing amnesty laws opened the door to a landslide of cases.
Prosecutors say Kaesemann, a 30-year-old sociologist, was abducted by state agents acting at the behest of the military. She was reportedly active in student and human rights issues early in the 1976-1983 dictatorship as the state waged a Dirty War against dissent.
Nearly 13,000 people are reported officially as dead or missing from seven years of junta rule, but human rights
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A criminal law court on Tuesday rejected Germany's extradition request for Videla, wanted in the March 1977 kidnapping and killing of activist Elisabeth Kaesemann. The court ruled crimes committed in Argentina are first subject to its judiciary.
In the past, denying extradition effectively thwarted prosecution, but the repeal in 2005 of long-standing amnesty laws opened the door to a landslide of cases.
Prosecutors say Kaesemann, a 30-year-old sociologist, was abducted by state agents acting at the behest of the military. She was reportedly active in student and human rights issues early in the 1976-1983 dictatorship as the state waged a Dirty War against dissent.
Nearly 13,000 people are reported officially as dead or missing from seven years of junta rule, but human rights