MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine dictators notified of Spanish extradition request.

The man who provided the unsmiling, some say sinister, face to the 1970s Argentine dictatorship, Junta leader Jorge Videla, has rejected the jurisdiction of a Spanish judge who wants him extradited to face atrocities charges.

The 78-year-old former army chief who led a 1976 coup said in a writ that Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon has no valid legal claim to judge him for his role in the abduction, torture and summary execution of thousands of his compatriots.

Videla was informed by a Buenos Aires judge of an arrest warrant for purposes of extradition that has been issued for him and another 45 Argentines being prosecuted in Spain for genocide, state terrorism and torture committed during the last military dictatorship, from 1976-1983.

Through a brief filed by his attorneys, the former "de facto" president said that Garzon "has no juridical standing outside of Spanish territory to assume powers he doesn't have." The Spanish extradition request is "void" because "it affects Constitutional principles and international treaties" signed by Argentina, his attorneys argued. Videla, who currently faces charges at home and is under arrest for his role in the kidnapping of the children of people who were "disappeared" by the regime, was informed of his situation, along with already arrested fellow oppressors included on Garzon's list. Also brought before a judge in Buenos Aires was former Gen.Guillermo Suarez Mason, along with several of his uniformed contemporaries. Former Adm. Emilio Massera was unable to be transferred because he is hospitalized in serious condition as a result of a stroke suffered in December. So far, 41 of the individuals Spain is seeking have been detained, two have died and the remaining three have been declared fugitives by Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, who is handling the case.

President Nestor Kirchner on July 25 repealed a decree signed in 2001 that had forced judges to reject extradition requests issued for Argentines who had played a role in the repression during what was called the "dirty war," which left between 9,000 and 30,000 people dead, depending on which group's estimate is taken.

Kirchner, though, would prefer seeing the defendants tried in Argentina, which has prompted him to overturn two laws from the 1980s that absolved more than 1,000 people accused of human rights violations of any responsibility.

Kirchner on Thursday received the directors of leading human rights organizations and told them he was pleased with the "very significant" about-face the government has assumed to punish crimes against humanity that had been committed during the dictatorship.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the 1980 Nobel Peace prize winner, praised Kirchner for supporting the probe into the crimes committed by the regime and "making progress in assuming measures that must be taken to combat poverty."