High Court clears way for ex-Pinochet agent Adriana Rivas to be extradited to Chile

Australia's High Court on Monday issued a "certificate of deemed abandonment", effectively undoing the process by which former Pinochet agent Adriana Rivas can avoid extradition to Chile.

Adriana Rivas will be extradited to Chile.

Adriana Rivas will e extradited to Chile. Source: SBS

The certificate stated: "The applicant failed to comply with the provisions of Part 41 of the High Court Rules 2004 on or before 11 April 2022 and, accordingly, pursuant to rule 41.10.1, the application for special leave to appeal was deemed to have been abandoned".

Lawyer Adriana Navarro, who represents the families of victims of the Pinochet regime, explained to SBS Spanish that: "...until last Friday Ms Rivas had not taken the measures to advance her request for permission (to be able to appeal) and the Attorney General asked that the Rivas' petition be declared abandoned".

She said the certificate issued by the High Court meant that the process had concluded, so Ms Rivas had no avenue to appeal against her extradition.

"This special request for permission was stalled," Ms Navarro explained, "...because Ms Rivas had not presented the required appeal books or other requirements for compliance with the rules and was about three months late, so the case was considered abandoned".
Adriana Rivas
Adriana Rivas during an interview with SBS Spanish reporter Florencia Melgar in 2013. Source: SBS Spanish
Ms Navarro said that the relatives of victims of the regime in Chile planned to file briefs requesting the Attorney General of Australia to proceed without delay with the extradition of Ms Rivas.

Ms Rivas is accused in Chile of having been a part of the Lautaro Brigade, an "elite squad" that operated in the Simón Bolívar barracks, considered a centre for extermination and torture during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Ms Navarro said the certificate issued by the High Court meant that the process had concluded, so Ms Rivas had no avenue to appeal against her extradition.

The plenary session of the Federal Court, made up of three judges, to reject the attempt of Ms Rivas to stop her extradition to Chile and ratified the previous decision of the Australian justice system that declared her extraditable.

Ms Rivas is suspected of kidnapping and torture offences committed against seven political dissidents in 1976: the secretary-general of Chile's communist party, Víctor Díaz, and six of his supporters, some of whom remain missing.

Ms Rivas, now nearly 70 years old, had been living in Sydney for four decades when she was arrested in 2019.

In August 2013, Ms Rivas accepted an , that had found the former Pinochet agent living in Bondi and working as a nanny.

In the interview, Ms Rivas told SBS Spanish that she was innocent of the charges but defended the use of torture in Chile at the time as necessary.



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3 min read
Published 9 May 2022 7:29pm
Updated 10 May 2022 1:17pm
By Esther Lozano

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