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Argentina's `angel of death' denies role in nuns' murder

A former Argentine navy captain dubbed the "Angel of Death" by human rights groups testified in court on Wednesday, denying he helped abduct two French nuns and suggesting French "undercover agents" played a role in their deaths.

Captain Alfredo Astiz, 56, was accused in the 1977 disappearance of nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet, along with a dozen other people, including the founder of the human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Azucena Villaflor.

All were reportedly held at the former Navy Mechanics' School, the chief clandestine torture center of the 1976 to 1983 military dictatorship and some were thrown into the ocean from helicopters in Argentina's infamous "death flights."

In all previous court cases, Astiz had claimed his constitutional right to not to testify. He testified to Judge Sergio Torres, who is investigating torture at the Navy Mechanics' School in one of several junta-era human rights cases reactivated when the Supreme Court two years ago annulled a pair of 1980s amnesty laws.

Horacio Carreras, a human rights representative in Argentina's Foreign Ministry, confirmed that Astiz testified for three hours on Wednesday. After his testimony, Astiz was taken back to a military base.

Astiz was tried in absentia in a French court in 1990 and sentenced to life in prison for the abduction of the two nuns.

Argentina hasn't extradited Astiz to France.

Its courts historically have refused to extradite suspects wanted in dictatorship-era abuses, particularly when cases are pending against them at home.

In his testimony on Wednesday, Astiz declared his "complete and total innocence" in the nuns' disappearance and said the court should investigate the possible involvement by French agents.
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