December 16, 2019 - 11:48 AM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A former Argentine police officer on Monday arrived in Buenos Aires after being extradited from France to face trial for a murder that occurred during the military dictatorship in Argentina that ended in 1983.
The extradition of Mario Sandoval was the result of diplomatic efforts dating from 2012 and the involvement of a French lawyer specializing in human rights, Argentina's foreign ministry said.
Sandoval is wanted for the 1970s kidnapping and murder of architecture student Hernán Abriatta, and he is a suspect in multiple crimes committed in a clandestine detention centre in a Buenos Aires military base at the time, according to authorities.
Sandoval abducted Abriatta from his home on Oct. 30, 1976, and police officer identified himself to Abriatta's parents, authorities allege. Abriatta was held at the military detention centre and witnesses said they last saw him at the beginning of 1977.
Sandoval allegedly was a member of a group of Argentine state enforcers that carried out kidnappings and killings during the military dictatorship. After the end of military rule, he moved to France and obtained citizenship there during the 1990s.
The former police officer became a university professor in France and at one point was an adviser to former French President Nicolas Sarközy, according to Argentine human rights groups.
Some 30,000 people disappeared during Argentina's last military dictatorship, human rights groups say.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019