MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner favors trying rights abusers in Argentina.

President Nestor Kirchner said Wednesday that former members of the nation's 1976-1983 military dictatorship who have been accused of committing human rights violations “should be tried in Argentina.”

During a news conference, the head of state also said that he had "always" opposed the laws approved during previous administrations granting such individuals amnesty or immunity from prosecution on kidnapping, torture and murder charges.

Kirchner was questioned by journalists regarding the 40 retired military officers and one civilian who have been detained here pending possible extradition to Spain to face charges of mass murder, state terrorism, and torture of political dissidents for their actions during the dictatorship.

"They should be tried in Argentina," said the president, lamenting that such trials cannot take place at present due to existing laws favoring "impunity." Kirchner this month voided a decree by a previous government that prevented the extradition of Argentines for trial abroad on charges stemming from alleged crimes committed in Argentina.

Regarding those who object to the extradition of the suspects to be tried by a foreign court on the principle of territoriality, Kirchner called for "an end to this false hypocrisy regarding sovereignty." "I always said they were unconstitutional," said Kirchner, referring to two amnesty-immunity laws passed during the 1980s that effectively allowed more than a thousand people charged with rights violations to elude accountability for their actions.

According to Kirchner, these laws, whose constitutionality the Supreme Court is now reviewing, "were obtained under the extortion (threat) of a coup." "I always opposed the amnesty," he added in allusion to the pardon then-President Carlos Menem granted in 1990 to the members of the military juntas who had been convicted and sentenced in 1985 for their role in the illegal repression.

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon requested the extradition of 46 Argentines, two of whom are now deceased, while three others have not responded to the summons to appear in the Buenos Aires court that is to rule on the case.

For his part, attorney Florencio Varela, representing three of the retired military officers who have been detained, sent a letter Wednesday to Spanish Ambassador Manuel Alabart decrying "the serious situation" sparked by Garzon's request for his clients' arrest.

In the letter, Varela enumerated the reasons why he believes the suspects' extradition to Spain "is impossible to carry out."