Mario Sandoval, a former police officer and an alleged torturer during the Argentina military rule, has been extradited from France after spending more than 30 years as a university lecturer in Paris.
He is accused of torture and crimes against humanity during Argentina’s military dictatorship in 1976-1983.
Mario Sandoval was arrested on Wednesday at his home near Paris after French authorities gave the final go-ahead for his extradition, which marked the end of his eight-year legal battle to avoid trial for the murder of a student in 1976.
He was sent on a plane that left Paris around midnight on Sunday to face trial in Argentina over the disappearance of a student.
Mario Sandoval alleged torture case
Argentine prosecutors based their extradition request against the suspected torturer on a case revolving around the disappearance of a student Hernán Abriata, who disappeared in detention in 1976.
Mario Sandoval denies the charges, but a top French court has given a final ruling, rejecting his appeal. He is accused in some 500 cases, relating to murder, torture, and kidnapping.
Abriata was detained at the infamous navy mechanics school (Esma), in Buenos Aires, where an estimated 5,000 people were held and tortured after the military coup of 1976, many of them thrown from planes into the sea or the River Plate.
He was taken away from his parents’ home in Buenos Aires on the night of 30 October 1976
Mario Sandoval allegedly used electric prongs to burn prisoners at a clandestine detention center. The security forces killed an estimated 30,000 people under the junta.
Eight-year extradition battle
Sophie Thonon, a lawyer, acting for Argentina, said that the legal action to extradite Sandoval took eight years the time needed to exhaust all legal remedies available to him.
The French Council of State, which advises the government on legal matters, approved his extradition in August 2018, prompting the allege torturer time to appeal.
The Constitutional Council determined that no statute of limitations could be applied to an ongoing case, citing the fact that Abriata’s body has never been found.
Sandoval’s lawyers had argued that he would not get a fair trial in Argentina where he would face torture or poor detention conditions.
But their appeals to the European Court of Human Rights to take up his case failed.
Thonon said Mario Sandoval lawyers used the argument that Sandoval risked facing a political trial if he returned to Argentina in their attempt to prevent his extradition.
Thonon further noted Abriata’s mother, who will be 93 on Christmas Day, had lived through repeated setbacks and delays and was desperate to see Sandoval face justice.
