A former nanny from Sydney is set to be extradited to Chile to face kidnapping charges after a protracted legal battle. Adriana Elcira Rivas, who sought to avoid extradition for seven years, has ultimately lost her fight to remain in Australia.
Rivas moved to Australia in the late 1970s, where she took up work as a nanny in Bondi, an eastern suburb of Sydney. Her arrest by New South Wales Police in 2019 came at the behest of the Chilean government, which has long sought her return to face legal proceedings.
Currently in her 70s, Rivas has been in custody as she contested the extradition, which pertains to seven charges of aggravated kidnapping. These allegations date back to her time with the secret police during the regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Among her alleged victims was a woman who was five months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Rivas has consistently denied the charges and argued that extraditing her to Chile would subject her to a trial for crimes against humanity, a prospect she sought to avoid.
However, Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court in Sydney dismissed her argument, stating on Tuesday that the claim regarding the mischaracterization of the charges was “misconceived.”
But the argument that the offences had been mischaracterised was “misconceived”, Justice Michael Lee told the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday.
“The materials do not suggest the offence for which extradition is sought is anything other than the offences identified throughout the request … namely aggravated kidnapping,” he said.
Rivas’ contention that the government failed to consider the time limit for prosecuting the kidnapping offences had expired was similarly flawed, the judge determined.
“The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the minister’s decision was affected by jurisdictional error,” Lee said.
Chileans’ long quest for justice
The ambassador and consul-general of Chile sat in the public gallery as the decision was handed down.
Families of Chileans who vanished or were killed during Pinochet’s rule had packed the courtroom during the two-day hearing, but were not able to be in the court for the decision.
Tens of thousands of Chileans came to Australia after the dictator violently overthrew the nation’s elected socialist government in a 1973 coup.
About 40,000 people were killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons before the end of his ruthless reign in 1990.
Rivas is accused of playing a role in a Direccion de Inteligencia Nacional brigade that physically and psychologically tortured members of the communist party who opposed Pinochet’s regime.
Adriana Navarro, who represents the families, previously said more than 1,100 Chileans have still not been found.
“We have a very good idea of what happened to them, and we think Rivas may do too,” Navarro told AAP outside court during the hearing.
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