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18:56 GMT, Monday, 31 March 2008 19:56 UK

Argentine ex-junta man extradited

Ex-naval captain Ricardo Cavallo

A former Argentine navy commander has been extradited from Spain to Argentina to face trial for junta-era crimes.

Ricardo Miguel Cavallo is accused of killing and torturing left-wing activists during the "dirty war" of 1976-1983. He denies the charges.

Mr Cavallo was taken in a bullet-proof vest from Buenos Aires airport to the capital's federal court complex.

He is due to be transferred to a prison on the city outskirts, the Spanish news agency Efe reports.

He had been put on a flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires early on Monday.

In 2003, he was transferred from Mexico to Spain, where he was charged with genocide and other crimes.

Notorious navy school

The Spanish case was closed after Argentina requested Mr Cavallo's extradition.

Up to 30,000 people are said to have been killed or disappeared in Argentina during the military dictatorship.

Mr Cavallo had been living for years in Mexico under an assumed name.

Spanish law allows offences committed abroad to be tried in Spain if a suspect is not facing prosecution in his home country.

Mr Cavallo served at the notorious Navy School of Mechanics in Buenos Aires, a detention centre where hundreds of people were tortured and killed.

At least 614 people were held at the navy school during the military campaign against left-wing insurgents. Many were drugged and thrown from aircraft into rivers and the sea.




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Related to this story:
'Dirty war' trial backed in Spain (18 Jul 07 |  Europe )
Argentine may face 17,000 years (11 Jan 06 |  Europe )
Q&A: Argentina's grim past (14 Jun 05 |  Americas )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Spanish justice ministry
The Vanished Gallery - Information on the Disappeared
Human Rights Watch
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