Sweden demands 'Blond Angel'

France has sentenced Astiz, in absentia, to life in jail

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sweden has formally asked Argentina to extradite former naval officer Alfredo Astiz to face trial over the disappearance of a Swedish teenager 25 years ago.

Nicknamed "the Blond Angel," Astiz is accused of the abduction of 17-year old Dagmar Hagelin, who was last seen in Buenos Aires in January 1977, soon after a military dictatorship took power.

Witnesses reportedly saw her at a clandestine torture centre before she disappeared.

Sweden's Ambassador Madeleine Stroeje-Wilkens presented the extradition request to the Argentine government on Friday and the case was under consideration, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

The ambassador expressed hope that "justice will be served and that the new Argentine government... will take measures to strengthen the justice system and resolve outstanding cases relating to human rights," Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said.

Authorities in Argentina detained Astiz on December 28 at the request of Swedish prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand, but the formal extradition request was delayed because of political turmoil in the Latin American country. Argentina has turned down previous extradition requests from Italy and France, who linked Astiz to the disappearances of their citizens during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

France sentenced Astiz, in absentia, to life in jail in 1990 for killing two nuns. He is also wanted by Spain.

Astiz was a member of a death squad operating out of the Navy School for Mechanics, a camp in Buenos Aires where many of the thousands of people who died or disappeared in the "Dirty War" against leftists died.

He has not admiitted to any killings but has acknowledged he was trained to commit political murders. He cannot be tried for human rights abuses in Argentina because of a 1990 immunity law.

More than 9,000 people are officially listed as disappeared during the military's systematic crackdown on leftists opponents known as the "dirty war." Human rights groups say the number of disappeared is closer to 30,000.

The French request for Astiz's extradition was rejected in August last year.

A spokesman for French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said in December: "France is not giving up striving for the fulfilment of this.

"The new Argentine government has shown itself eager to come up to expectations in matters of international judicial cooperation. We are delighted."