translated from Spanish: Australian court accepts extradition of Adriana Rivas, former secretary of Manuel Contreras

A court in Australia ruled thursday in favor of the extradition to Chile of Adriana Rivas, alleged torturer of the regime of General Augusto Pinochet and accused in the Latin American country for the disappearance of seven people in the 1970s, including a pregnant woman.
Judge Wendy Jane Abraham of the Australian Federal Court said at a brief session in Sydney that Rivas “is eligible” for extradition, dismissing the appeal made by pinochet’s former agent’s defense against a lower court ruling, issued on October 29, which agreed to his surrender to Chile.
The judge also ordered at thursday’s hearing, which Efe accessed by videoconference, that Rivas pay the legal costs of the Chilean State, which represented Chile to request extradition.
The hearing was held virtually due to physical distancing restrictions and meeting limits imposed in the city of Sydney by a covid-19 outbreak.
The ruling can still be appealed before the full judges of the Australian Federal Court, although only based on the possibility that there is an error in the interpretation or application of the law, explained to Efe the lawyer Adriana Navarro, who represents the relatives of six of the victims attributed to Rivas.
However, “it’s hard to think he can succeed there,” added Navarro, who expressed on behalf of the family members his “happiness” because the judge rejected “all of Rivas’ arguments” and confirmed his extradition on the seven counts of aggravated kidnapping.
He also added that the family members expressed their “gratitude” for the work of the lawyers and the support of the Hispanic community in Australia.
It is presumed that the Chilean citizen, 68 years old, arrested and held in a prison in the city of Sydney since February 2019, was part of the Lautaro extermination brigade of the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA, Pinochet’s secret police), where she became the secretary of Manuel Contreras, the top chief of this unit.
Rivas, who defends his innocence, is credited with allegedly participating in the “aggravated kidnapping” of Victor Diaz, who was undersecretary of chile’s Communist Party, in 1976.
He has also been implicated in the disappearance of Fernando Navarro, Lincoyán Berríos, Horacio Cepeda, Juan Fernando Ortíz, Héctor Veliz and Reinalda Pereira, who were pregnant at the time of their arrest.
Rivas, who denies involvement in torture or murder, travelled with her husband to Australia in 1978, where he later lived in subsidized housing in the Bondi neighbourhood of east Sydney, and spent 30 years cleaning and caring for children.
In 2006 she travelled to Chile, where she was arrested for cases linked to her extradition, but later managed to escape and return three years later to Australia.

Original source in Spanish