Extradition of Altmann unlikely

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33001, 22 August 1972, Page 17

Extradition of Altmann unlikely

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LA PAZ (Bolivia), August 21. Klaus Altmann, the naturalised Bolivian businessman who has admitted that he is Klaus Barbie, the man wanted by the French Government to face war crimes charges, is not likely to be extradited to France, a Government spokesman said in La Paz today.

Instead, his case is being studied by the Bolivian Criminal Court, which will decide if he can be tried under Bolivian law on the basis of his admission that he was the

head of the Gestapo in the French city of Lyons during the Second World War. The Supreme Court, which had been studying the French request for extradition passed the case to the Criminal Court after Altmann, who is 56, had admitted to the Bolivian Government that he was Barbie.

“But there is no question of the French request being granted, because of the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries,” the Government spokesman said. “Because Altmann is a naturalised Bolivian citizen, he is entitled to the protection of Bolivian laws.” Barbie was sentenced to death in his absence by a French court at the end of the war for his part in the torture and execution of French Resistance workers, including the Resistance leader, Mr Jean Moulin.