Argentine junta leader in court

General Videla led a military junta from 1976 to 1981

A former military ruler of Argentina, Jorge Rafael Videla, has appeared in court in Buenos Aires to be formally notified of a Spanish judge's request to have him extradited.

Other high-ranking members of Argentina's former military government wanted for extradition were also present.

The Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon wants to try more than 40 officers for their alleged involvement in the torture and killing of Spanish citizens living in Argentina during the 1976-1983 military government.

The current Argentine President, Nestor Kirchner, last month revoked a decree that prevented the extradition of former military leaders.

Lawyers for General Videla said that Mr Garzon had no jurisdiction to judge the former dictator, according to Argentina's Clarin newspaper.

Too ill

They said the crimes he is accused of committing have already been judged in the process which led to the conviction, and subsequent pardon, of the former leaders of the military juntas.

Ex-General Carlos Guillermo Suarez Mason, retired naval intelligence chief Jorge "The Tiger" Acosta, and former officer Hector Febres were also in court.

Former Admiral Emilio Eduardo Massera was also due to be in court but it has been decided that he is too ill for extradition. La Nacion newspaper said he has been in a naval hospital for a few months after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Mr Garzon has led the way in trying to bring those suspected of human rights violations in Latin America to justice.

He spearheaded the unsuccessful campaign to extradite former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet from London to Spain.

More recently, he secured the extradition of former Argentine military officer, Ricardo Miguel Cavallo, from Mexico to Spain to face charges of genocide and terrorism.

Up to 30,000 people were killed or disappeared in the Argentine military's campaign in the 1970s against what it called left-wing insurgents, in what was called the Dirty War.