01/12/2024 – 21:26
Former Army chaplain Franco Reverberi, aged 86, is accused of participating in torture sessions and complicity in the death of a young man during the military dictatorship. Italian Minister of Justice cited health issues. The Minister of Justice of Italy's ultra-right government denied this Friday (12/01) the extradition to Argentina of an Italian priest accused of murder and torture during the military dictatorship in the southern country. American (1976-1983).
Minister Carlo Nordio cited health reasons to reverse a previous decision by the country's main criminal court, which ruled in October in favor of the extradition of Father Franco Reverberi, 86, who served as a chaplain for the Argentine Army in the province of Mendoza, in 1980.
Reverberi would have been part of a group that kidnapped and tortured political opponents in San Rafael. The Italian faces charges of aiding and abetting the murder of 22-year-old José Guillermo Berón and participating in a series of torture sessions.
The former chaplain fled the country in 2011 after his first trial for crimes against humanity in Mendoza. Reports from survivors and victims' families already indicated their responsibility for the crimes.
His extradition had been awaited by Argentine courts since 2012, and he was also the target of an Interpol arrest warrant. Italian law, however, establishes that the Minister of Justice has the power to confirm or deny court decisions on extraditions.
Nordio, denying Reverberi's extradition, argued that the priest has heart problems, and that the possibility of him never returning to Italy could be an “undue source of stress”, according to reports from people who followed the case.
Victim's family can request reopening of case
From now on, it will be up to Argentina's new government, led by right-wing populist president Javier Milei, to decide whether or not to appeal Minister Nordio's decision in an Italian court, said Jorge Ithurburu, who represents the human rights group 24 de Março, who followed Reverberi’s process.
The family of José Guillermo Berón may ask Italian prosecutors to open a case against Reverberi, as an Italian citizen being investigated for murder and other crimes in Argentina, Ithurburu said. The name of the group to which he belongs refers to the date on which the military coup took place in Argentina, in 1976.
“Justice delayed, justice denied. Don Reverberi will not have to answer to anyone for his crimes”, lamented the spokesperson for the human rights NGO Amnesty International, Ricaro Noury.
Around 30,000 people disappeared during the Argentine military dictatorship, which brutally repressed opponents of the regime with kidnappings, torture, rapes and murders.
In Argentina, more than a thousand people have been convicted of crimes against humanity related to the military regime, since the process began in mid-2000, after more than a decade of amnesty.
rc (AFP, AP)
#Italy #denies #extradition #priest #accused #torture #Argentina
