MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina May OK 'Dirty War' Extradition

President Nestor Kirchner is considering passing a decree allowing former military leaders accused of human rights abuses during Argentina's military dictatorship to be extradited for trial, news reports said Wednesday.

The measure would allow the government to review on a case-by-case basis extradition requests by countries whose citizens were alleged victims of the so-called "Dirty War," reported Clarin, Argentina's largest-circulation daily.

Argentina has repeatedly rejected Dirty War-related extradition requests, insisting its citizens be tried in their own country.

Government officials did not immediately comment on the report, but the newspaper said Kirchner hopes to decide the matter before starting on a five-day trip to Europe on Thursday.

The report came a day after a Spanish judge reissued international arrest warrants for 46 former military officers associated with abuses committed during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

Kirchner, who took office May 25, has called on the military to take steps to reconcile its role during the Dirty War. Days after taking office, he announced a restructuring of the military high command as one of his first acts, forcing out several leaders with links to the former military junta.

On Monday, he urged military leaders to help usher in a new period of cooperation between the armed forces and the government by helping clarify the extent of human rights violations during the dictatorship.

"We have to find a way to resolve this sad part of our history and we don't have 20 years to do it," Kirchner said in a strongly worded speech.

He added that it was time for the military "to sort the wheat from the chaff," in reference to those suspected of abuses.

More than 9,000 people are officially listed as having disappeared during the military's systematic crackdown on leftist opponents during the Dirty War. Human rights groups put the figure at nearly 30,000.

The junta's leaders, along with most mid-ranking officers in the military at the time, were pardoned by former President Carlos Menem in 1990, five years into life sentences for human rights abuses.

Many of the junta's top leaders currently are under house arrest in connection with an investigation into whether the regime allowed the illegal adoption of hundreds of children born to dissidents held captive during military rule.