A former nanny and cleaner from Sydney, Adriana Elcira Rivas, is set to be extradited to Chile to face charges related to kidnapping during Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship in the 1970s, following the conclusion of her lengthy seven-year legal battle to stay in Australia.
Now in her seventies, Rivas is alleged to have been involved in the abduction of seven individuals in 1976, including a pregnant woman, while she served with Pinochet’s secret police.
Rivas migrated to Australia in 1978, where she took up work as a nanny in Bondi. Her arrest occurred in 2019 when New South Wales police acted on a request from the Chilean government.
Throughout her time in custody, Rivas has contested her extradition, arguing against the charges of seven counts of aggravated kidnapping. She maintains her innocence and claims that extraditing her would lead to prosecution for crimes against humanity.
However, Justice Michael Lee of the federal court in Sydney dismissed her arguments on Tuesday, stating that the allegations had not been mischaracterized. He emphasized that the extradition request clearly outlined aggravated kidnapping as the offense in question.
The judge also rejected Rivas’ assertion that the prosecution period for the kidnapping charges had lapsed, asserting that she did not prove any jurisdictional errors in the minister’s decision.
Representatives from the Chilean government, including the ambassador and consul general, were present in the courtroom during the ruling.
During the two-day hearing, families of Chileans who disappeared or were killed under Pinochet’s regime filled the courtroom, though they were not allowed to be present for the final decision.
Following the violent coup in 1973, which ousted the democratically elected socialist government, tens of thousands of Chileans sought refuge in Australia. The Pinochet regime is estimated to have resulted in the deaths, torture, or imprisonment of around 40,000 individuals due to political reasons until its end in 1990.
Rivas is accused of being part of a national intelligence brigade that engaged in the physical and psychological torture of Communist party members who opposed the dictatorship.
Adriana Navarro, the attorney representing the families of the victims, previously noted that over 1,100 Chileans remain missing. “We have a very good idea of what happened to them and we think Ms. Rivas may do too,” Navarro stated outside the courtroom during the hearing.
