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Key Points
- Adriana Rivas is accused of crimes during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, charges which she denies.
- She moved to Australia in 1978, was arrested on a trip to Chile in 2006 but fled to Australia in 2010.
- Rivas has been fighting extradition since being detained in 2019 but the latest legal avenue was denied.
A 72-year-old Chilean-Australian woman fighting extradition from Australia has lost her latest legal battle.
Adriana Rivas is accused of committing aggravated kidnapping in Chile nearly while working for the feared National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) in the 1970s during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Rivas — who came to Australia in 1978, lived in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi and worked as a nanny and cleaner — denies the charges.
In Rivas’ latest attempt, her lawyers sought to request access to the entire government reports that her lawyers had said could help her avoid extradition.
The Australian government had invoked “legal professional privilege” to redact or conceal key sections of the reports previously provided to Rivas’ lawyers.
The reports are those that the Australian government relied upon to order Rivas’ surrender in August 2024, and her lawyers hoped to use them to identify arguments to avoid Rivas’ surrender.
But in a Federal Court hearing in Brisbane on Firday, Judge Erin Longbottom dismissed Rivas’ leave to appeal.
While the request to appeal to access the full documents was denied, it is understood she still could have other avenues to appeal.
Sydney-based lawyer Adriana Navarro, who advocates for the families of Chilean victims in Australia, previously explained to SBS Spanish that appealing for the full report is being used as a strategy to postpone her extradition.
The accusations against Adriana Rivas
Rivas worked for DINA during Pinochet’s dictatorship, from 1973 to 1977.
During that period, she was secretary to Alejandro Burgos, assistant to Manuel Contreras, the director of the DINA and Pinochet’s second-in-command.
In Chile, she is accused of having been part of the Lautaro Brigade, an “elite squad” that operated in the Simón Bolívar barracks, considered a centre of extermination and torture.
Rivas has been accused of kidnapping and torture crimes committed against seven political dissidents in 1976: the then-secretary-general of the Chilean Communist Party, Víctor Díaz, and six of his supporters. They are presumed murdered.
She denies all charges against her.
Rivas is a dual citizen
In January 1978, Rivas left Chile to start a new life in Australia on a spousal visa.
Since arriving in Australia in 1978, she worked as a nanny and cleaner.
During a trip to Chile in 2006 while visiting relatives, Rivas was arrested.
She was accused of involvement in the kidnapping and disappearance of seven people: Fernando Ortiz, Fernando Navarro, Lincoyán Berrios, Horacio Cepeda, Héctor Veliz, Reinalda Pereira, and Víctor Díaz.
These cases are known as the Conference cases.
During the judicial investigation in Chile, Rivas was released on bail and left the country illegally in 2010 to return to Australia.
The interview that uncovered an alleged torturer
In an interview with SBS Spanish in 2013, she denied engaging in illegal activities, but justified the use of torture, saying: “It’s the only way to break people.”
“It was necessary, just as the Nazis used it, and as in the United States, everyone does. It is the only way to break people because psychologically there is no other method,” Rivas said in the interview.
Rivas was arrested in 2019 following the extradition request issued by the Chilean government.
Since then, she has filed numerous failed appeals before different Australian judicial bodies, including the Supreme Court, to prevent her surrender to the Chilean justice system.
