Chilean woman Adriana Rivas who fled to Bondi arrested over seven kidnappings during Pinochet regime
A woman working as a nanny in Bondi will remain behind bars for at least a week after being arrested over her links to seven kidnappings in Chile during the brutal Pinochet regime.
NSW
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A woman working as a nanny in Bondi will remain behind bars for at least a week after being arrested over her links to seven kidnappings in Chile during the brutal Pinochet regime.
Adriana Rivas, who had been living in public housing and working as a nanny and cleaner, was arrested yesterday following a request from Chile for her extradition in October.
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The 66-year-old is being pursued to face multiple charges of aggravated kidnapping, one of which involves the disappearance of a pregnant woman in the 1970s.
Rivas appeared briefly via video link before Central Local Court yesterday and did not apply for bail.
Her matter was adjourned until March 1.
Dressed in a blue shirt and wearing glasses, Rivas told a correctives guard she was feeling unwell before being taken back into custody.
Outside court, lobbyist and lawyer Adriana Navarro said the arrest sparked “elation, sadness and pain” among Chilean Australians.
Ms Navarro said the seven kidnappings Rivas was allegedly linked to involved six men and one woman.
She singled out the case of Reinalda Pereira, who was five months pregnant and linked to the Communist Party when she was kidnapped on a Santiago street by a man in 1976.
The 29-year-old was never seen again.
“Reinalda was five months pregnant when she was kidnapped and … there is horrendous information about what she endured,” she said.
Ms Navarro described the arrest as a “landmark” move in attaining justice for the people who were killed under dictator Augusto Pinochet’s brutal regime during the 1970s and 1980s.
“This is the first case of this kind between Chile and Australia pursuant to the treaty for extradition.
“I understand there have been a lot of technical difficulties somehow correlating the law of Chile and the law of Australia.
“However, it seems that those obstacles have now been resolved and here we are.
“We look at it with optimism and we would like the process to be as fast as possible. And that, if she’s not guilty, she can say so in Chile.”
Rivas first moved to Australia in the late 1970s.
In 2006, on a trip home to Chile, she was charged with seven counts of aggravated kidnapping.
But Rivas fled back to Australia in 2009 while she was awaiting her trial proceedings to begin.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Christian Porter yesterday said Rivas was arrested “pursuant to a request from the Republic of Chile for her extradition”.
“This individual is wanted to face prosecution in the Republic of Chile for aggravated kidnapping offences,” the spokesman said.