Officer ‘cannot be extradited’

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 6

Officer ‘cannot be extradited’

Britain says that a captured Argentine naval officer, wanted for questioning by Sweden and France, cannot be extradited for any., crimes alleged to have been! committed in his own conn" try. " Captain Alfredo Astiz isi; sought for questioning about; the shooting of a Swedish" girl in Buenos Aires and they suspected murder of two-’ French nuns. The British Defence Ministry said that Captain Astiz, aged 29, captured in April when British troops retook South Georgia, a dependency of the disputed Falkland Islands seized by Argentina, was a prisoner of war and entitled to the full protection of the Third Geneva Convention. "He may not therefore be extradited to face charges for any crimes he may have committed in Argentina." it said. Captain Astiz is the only Argentine prisoner taken to Britain. Officials have not made it wholly clear why he is still being held, although Britain has a legal right to keep him until the end of hostilities. British officials have said that Captain Astiz refuses’ to answer questions about his alleged activities as a torturer. According to Western diplomats in Geneva, publicity about violations of human rights in Argentina may be all that Britain will get from... holding him captive. J