[NYTr] Italian judge issues warrants in Operation Condor case

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters via Yahoo - Dec 24, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071224/ts_nm/argentina_italy_condor_dc


Italy judge issues warrants in "Plan Condor" case

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian judge on Monday issued arrest warrants for
140 Latin Americans suspected of involvement in a coordinated
persecution of leftists and dissidents by Latin America's military
rulers in the 1970s, Italian news agencies said.

Almost all of those on the list are living in Latin America and a
number are already in custody there as part of investigations into the
conspiracy known as "Plan Condor."

One man, Nestor Jorge Fernandez Troccoli, a former member of the
Uruguayan secret services, was arrested in southern Italy, the Ansa and
Agi news agencies reported.

The warrants involve Argentines, Bolivians, Brazilians, Chileans,
Paraguayans and Peruvians.

They are suspected of complicity in the deaths of 25 Italian citizens
killed in Latin American by military regimes in the 1970s, the news
agencies reported.

Under Italian law, Italian magistrates can investigate the killings of
Italian citizens overseas.

It was not clear if the action taken against those on the list who are
living in Latin American or elsewhere outside Italy was symbolic or
whether the judge would try to have them extradited to Italy.

Former Argentine leader Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla and former Uruguayan
President Juan Bordaberry were among those on the list, the Italian
news agencies reported.

(Editing by Giles Elgood)