️ A 72-year-old Chilean woman, Adriana Rivas, suspected of kidnapping and torturing dissidents during the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet, has lost her lengthy legal battle against extradition from Australia. A federal judge dismissed her lawyers' arguments that Chile's extradition request, filed 12 years ago, was legally flawed.

️ Rivas moved to Australia in 1978, where she worked as a nanny and cleaner in Sydney's Bondi suburb. Chilean prosecutors accuse her of participating in the 1976 forced disappearance of the secretary-general of Chile's Communist Party, Víctor Díaz, and six other party members. The youngest of the seven was 29-year-old Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza, who was pregnant at the time.

️ Rivas served as the personal secretary for Chile's infamous secret police chief Manuel Contreras from 1973 to 1976. Rights activists have long alleged that she was personally involved in the kidnapping and torture of dissidents. She reportedly became an active agent for the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), the secret police force founded by Pinochet to hunt down political opponents after his military coup in September 1973.

️ In a 2013 interview with Australian broadcaster SBS, Rivas described her years at DINA as "the best of my life" but denied any wrongdoing. When asked about torture carried out by DINA agents, she stated that "they had to break the people – it has happened all over the world, not only in Chile."

️ A lawyer representing relatives of victims of the Pinochet regime said the families were "truly, truly delighted" by the court's decision. Rivas could attempt to appeal the ruling at the full federal court, but grounds for such an appeal remain unclear. Barring another appeal, she will be sent back to Chile to stand trial on charges of aggravated kidnapping.

Source: www.bbc.com