In a June 2003 decision, the Mexican Supreme Court allowed the extradition of Argentine ex-navy officer Ricardo Cavallo to Spain, where a court has charged him with genocide and terrorism. Cavallo is accused of torturing and killing suspected dissidents during the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

Cavallo, who denies the charges against him, was arrested in August 2000 while doing business in Mexico under an assumed name. He is accused of several murders, 100 kidnappings, and more than 200 forced disappearances. Many of his alleged victims were Spanish immigrants to Argentina.

Cavallo was indicted in November 1999 by Spain’s National Audience court, or Audiencia Nacional. He will be the first Argentine military official to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity since Argentina passed two amnesty laws in the1980s, the full stop law and the due obedience law. Spain, led by National Audience judge Baltasar Garzón, has made efforts to put an additional 119 Argentine military officers on trial for similar crimes, but has been thwarted by the absence of an extradition agreement between Spain and Argentina. In July 2003, though, the Argentine government annulled a decree prohibiting the extradition of Argentines suspected of torture or murder in the so-called “Dirty War." The move could pave the way for many officers and former junta leaders to be tried abroad.

In August 2003, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies voted to overturn the two amnesty laws enacted in the 1980s. If the Senate does the same, Argentina could begin to try its accused war criminals itself.

• Argentina’s Amnesty Laws:
  
  • Law 23.492, ratified December 23, 1986 ­ the full stop law or ley de punto final.
  • Law 23.521, ratified June 4, 1987 ­ the due obedience law or ley de obediencia debida.
• Federal Court of Buenos Aires Decision, nullifying the amnesty laws, March 6, 2001.
• Mexican Supreme Court decision allowing the extradition of Ricardo Cavallo to Spain, June 11, 2003.
• Spanish order seeking extradition of Ricardo Cavallo to Spain, September 12, 2000.
• Other legal documents pertaining to Spanish attempts to apply universal jurisdiction for crimes committed in Argentina and Chile, provided by the human rights organization Derechos.
• Princeton Principles

• Argentinian Judiciary, including links to the Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Buenos Aires
• Mexican Supreme Court
• Spanish National Audience Court (Audiencia Nacional)
• For more information on the legal systems of the countries involved, please see our national pages on Argentina, Mexico, and Spain.

• Amin Should Have Faced Justice, Human Rights Watch, July 22, 2003
• Argentine ex-officers face arrest, Reuters, July 26, 2003.
• Reed Brody, Historic moment in the fight to ensure there are no safe havens for mass killers, The Independent, June 30, 2003.
• Fourteen Principles on the Effective Exercise of Universal Jurisdiction, Amnesty International, May, 1999.
• Henry Kissinger, The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2001. This article is also available here.
• Gretchen Peters, Mexico Gives Boost to Universal Jurisdiction, Christian Science Monitor, June 16, 2003. This article is also available here.
• Kenneth Roth, The Case for Universal Jurisdiction, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2001.
• Some Alleged Torturers Living in Exile ­ a Human Rights Watch Backgrounder, Human Rights Watch, July 2003.
• Universal Jurisdiction - the duty of states to enact and enforce legislation, Amnesty International, September 2001.

• Anna Segall, Punishing Violations of International Humanitarian Law at the National Level: A Guide for Common Law States, ICRC Advisory Service on International Humanitarian Law, Geneva, 2001.

• The Crimes of War Project
• Derechos
• Lawyers Committee on Human Rights
• The Princeton Project on Universal Jurisdiction
• Universal Jurisdiction Information Network
• The Vanished Gallery

Written August 1, 2003; Last updated August 18, 2003.