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Argentine accused of piloting death flights is extradited
A pilot who allegedly flew death flights for Argentina's military dictatorship was extradited from Spain yesterday.
Julio Alberto Poch is accused of illegal detentions, tortures, disappearances, and deaths when he served as a military pilot during the 1976-1983 junta, which killed as many as 30,000 people.
Poch arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday and faces a court hearing today. He has denied the charges.
Poch, 57, was turned in by co-workers at the Dutch airline where he worked after the dictatorship. They said he had bragged about the death flights and was unrepentant about executing people he considered to be terrorists.
About 1,000 people are believed to have been drugged, tied up, and thrown alive into the sea from military planes after being kidnapped and tortured inside Argentina's Navy Mechanics School. Poch is accused of piloting the planes used to dispose of journalist Rodolfo Walsh and the French nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet, among others.