An Argentine-German citizen wanted for crimes against humanity committed during Argentina's brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship has been hiding in Berlin, where authorities have refused his extradition, the German newspaper Bild reported Friday.
Luis Esteban Kyburg, 72, is accused of leading an Argentine naval unit known as the Agrupación Buzos Tácticos, based at Mar del Plata naval base, between 1976 and 1983 that was allegedly involved in torturing and killing abducted political opponents of the dictatorship.
Some 30,000 people were "disappeared" by the 1976-1983 dictatorship, with suspected left-wing political critics targeted in particular.
Argentinian judicial authorities filed an extradition request for Kyburg in 2015, Bild said.
But German authorities have rejected the demand because Kyburg is a German citizen, and therefore cannot be extradited to face trial elsewhere, the daily added.
Prosecutors in Berlin were not immediately available for comment when reached by AFP.
Kyburg himself told Bild that he was "waiting here" in a video shared by the newpaper, in which he is approached on the street.
"Court in Germany, not in Argentina. I'm waiting. Innocent. Calmly," he added.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights urged German courts to take action.
Kyburg's "German citizenship must not shield him from prosecution," warned Wolfgang Kaleck, human rights lawyer and ECCHR General Secretary.
– TIMES/AFP
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