Garzon blocked over 'dirty war' extraditions

A request by the crusading judge Baltasar Garzon to seek extradition of 40 Argentinians accused of torture and genocide in their country's "dirty war", was rejected by the Spanish government yesterday.

It did so because Argentina's senate scrapped two laws offering legal protection to former torturers, Mariano Rajoy, the Deputy Prime Minister, said. That meant officers accused of human rights abuses could be prosecuted in Argentina.

Judge Garzon's campaign to bring Argentina's torturers to justice more than 20 years after the fall of the military junta was based on a Spanish law that lets suspects be tried in Spain for crimes against humanity, even if they were committed elsewhere. The judge indicted 39 officers and a civilian on charges of genocide, terrorism and torture. They include General Jorge Videla and Admiral Emilio Massera, members of the junta that seized power in a coup in March 1976.

Up to 30,000 Argentinians were killed or vanished during the generals' rule.