Argentina highest court rejects French request to extradite “the blond angel of death”

Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 08:12 UTC

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Captain Astiz is accused in the killing of two French nuns

The Argentine Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a French request to extradite former navy captain Alfredo Astiz, who was convicted in absentia in Europe for killing two French nuns during the 1976-1983 “Dirty War.”

The highest court said in a statement that Astiz should not be extradited to France since he is currently on trial in Argentina for crimes against the same victims.

Astiz was dubbed “the blond angel of death” for his cherubic looks when, in the 1970s, he infiltrated human rights groups whose members were later kidnapped. Two of the people who went missing at that time were French nuns Leonie Duquet and Alice Domon.

It is thought the two nuns were drugged and thrown from military planes into the River Plate.

The Supreme Court urged a special unit charged with overseeing prosecution of crimes against humanity to expedite the local judicial process.

As many as 30,000 suspected leftists were kidnapped and killed during the country's Dirty War military dictatorship.

Captain Astiz is also remembered as the Argentine commander of the South Georgia garrison during the Argentine occupation and the first Argentine officer to sign a rendition document to the British Task Force sent to recover the South Atlantic Islands in 1982.

He spent a few months in a military jail in the UK before he was returned to Argentina at the end of hostilities.

Categories: Politics, Argentina.

Tags: Alfredo Astiz, Argentina, Dirty War, South Georgia.

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Viscount Falkland
There is a nice photo of this guy for sale on e-bay....Item number: 380374482478
Oct 05th, 2011 - 09:24 am 0
Rufus
You have to admit that the French are persistant, they've been after him since before he surrendered to the Royal Marines on South Georgia in 1982 - where he had been masquerading as a scrap metal worker.
As I recall, Sweden would also like him to “help with their enquiries” and I still don't think he's answered for trying to lure RN helecopters to land on a booby-trapped pad (they didn't) or successfully luring Royal Marines across a minefield (which didn't work - the triggering mechanism had frozen solid) AFTER he had surrendered.
Oct 05th, 2011 - 10:15 am 0
O gara
I find this dissapointing.This beast should face trial anywhere in the world.
Oct 05th, 2011 - 10:22 pm 0

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