Spain rejects Argentine extradition request for ex-leader

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spain's National Court on Monday rejected a request from Buenos Aires for the extradition of former Argentine President Isabel Peron on charges of human rights abuses.

In two rulings, the court said the charges did not constitute crimes against humanity and that the statute of limitations for the offenses of which Peron is accused expired after 20 years. The rulings may be appealed.

Peron, whose full name is Maria Estela Martinez de Peron, was at the court to hear the decision. Peron, 77, declined to speak to reporters when leaving the building.

Spain received two extradition requests from Argentine judges who want to question Peron over death squad activity during her rule and the disappearance of two young leftists -- Hector Aldo Fagetti Gallego and Jorge Valentin Beron -- in February 1976.

Argentine prosecutors said at least 1,500 people were killed or went missing as a result of the Argentine Anti-communist Alliance, or "Triple A," death squad during Peron's 1974-1976 rule.

The court said there was insufficient evidence to show Peron had anything to do with the crimes attributed to the squad.

Peron, the third wife of three-time President Juan Domingo Peron, ruled Argentina for 20 chaotic months after the strongman's death until a March 1976 coup.

She has lived quietly in exile in Madrid in the decades since her ouster, but Spanish authorities arrested her and briefly held her in January 2007.

In an April 14 court appearance, Peron argued that she could not be extradited to Argentina because she was now a Spanish citizen, in addition to having Argentine citizenship.

Her attorneys also had argued that Peron's poor health and age should preclude her from being extradited. E-mail to a friend

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