Judge: Peron Extradition Will Be Lengthy

Former Argentine President Isabel Peron, center, is seen leaving the Spain's National Court, in Madrid, in this Friday Jan. 12, 2007 file photo. The extradition of Peron from Spain in an investigation of 1970s death squad killings will take at least a year if it happens at all, a federal judge seeking prosecution said Monday, Jan. 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza, File) (Daniel Ochoa De Olza - AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- The extradition of former Argentine President Isabel Peron from Spain in an investigation of 1970s death squad killings will take at least a year if it happens at all, a federal judge said Monday.

Judge Norberto Oyarbide said that if Spain's justice system ultimately rules against extraditing Peron, who is living in Madrid, he would press for a trial in Spain as a final recourse, He cited a bilateral treaty that he said would allow for such prosecution.

The third wife of three-time president Juan Domingo Peron, Isabel Peron ruled Argentina after the strongman's death for 20 chaotic months until a March 1976 coup.

The overthrow ushered in a seven-year dictatorship that waged a campaign against dissent known as the "dirty war." Official reports say nearly 13,000 people were killed or disappeared, while human rights groups put the toll at closer to 30,000.

The arrest of Peron, 75, earlier this month marked the expansion of Argentina's human rights investigations beyond dictatorship-era crimes to death squads that terrorized the nation prior to the 1976 coup.

Prosecutors say at least 1,500 people were killed or went missing as a result of the Argentine Anti-communist Alliance, or "Triple A," death squad during Peron's rule, what some called the earliest origins of the dirty war.

Asked about the possibility of lengthy extradition proceedings in Peron's case, Oyarbide told reporters the process could take at least a year "and maybe even a little longer."

Peron testified in 1997 in Madrid as a witness in a Spanish case probing crimes during the military dictatorship. She said she recalled approving a law authorizing the "annihilation" of leftist guerrillas, but did not remember details.

She also said that she was unaware of human rights abuses that began during her tenure and expanded after the coup.