[JURIST] Argentinean Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide said Monday that extraditing former Argentine President Isabel Peron [Wikipedia profile] from Spain could take more than a year, if it ever happens at all. Argentinean authorities are seeking Peron's return to Argentina [JURIST news archive] for questioning about the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A) [MIPT backgrounder], a government-supported death squad. Oyarbide said if Spain refuses to extradite Peron, he will push for a trial in Spain as authorized by a treaty signed by the two countries. In 1997, Person testified that she remembered approving a law authorizing the "annihilation" of leftist guerrillas, but could not recall specific details.

Isabel Peron assumed the presidency of Argentina in 1974 after the death of her husband, President Juan Domingo Peron, and was ousted by a military junta in 1976. Earlier this month, Peron was arrested [JURIST report] in Spain [JURIST news archive] under an arrest warrant issued by an Argentinean judge, but was later given a provisional release because the Spanish authorities do not believe the 75-year-old Peron will be able to flee due to her poor health. The renewed attempts to extradite Peron began after amnesty laws were overturned [JURIST report] in the country in 2005 and the government began its subsequent campaign to prosecute the human rights violations of the country's infamous "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. These investigations have been expanded to include the tenure of Peron [JURIST report]. AP has more.