Chilean Woman Adriana Rivas Loses Extradition Battle Over Pinochet-Era Crimes

Tue Apr 07 2026 20:08:05 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Adriana Rivas, a Chilean woman accused of participating in the torture and kidnapping of dissidents during Augusto Pinochet's regime, has lost her fight against extradition from Australia to face charges in Chile.

Adriana Rivas, 72, accused of involvement in the torture and disappearance of seven political opponents during Pinochet's rule, has lost her extradition battle in Australia. Rivas, who has lived in Australia since 1978, faces charges including aggravated kidnapping related to her past as a member of Chile's secret police. Chile requested her extradition over a decade ago, citing her role in the political persecution during the dictatorship. Victim families express relief at the ruling, with Rivas's potential appeal remaining uncertain.

A 72-year-old Chilean woman suspected of having kidnapped and tortured dissidents during the military rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet has lost her lengthy legal battle against being extradited from Australia.

Adriana Rivas moved to Australia in 1978, where she worked as a nanny and a cleaner in Sydney's Bondi suburb.

Chile requested her extradition 12 years ago, alleging that before she emigrated to Australia, she had been involved in the disappearance of seven people, which she denies.

More than 40,000 people were politically persecuted, and around 3,000 were killed during the Pinochet era, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.

Rivas was first arrested during a visit to her home country in 2006 but returned to Australia while on bail.

Chile filed an extradition request in 2014, and on Monday, a federal judge dismissed her lawyers' arguments that the request was legally flawed.

Rivas could try to appeal against the decision at the full federal court, Australian media reports indicate, but it is unclear whether the grounds for such an appeal would be met.

A lawyer representing the relatives of the victims of the Pinochet regime stated that the families were 'truly, truly delighted' by Monday's ruling.

Barring any successful appeal, Rivas will be sent back to her home country to stand trial on charges of aggravated kidnapping.

Rivas was the personal secretary for Chile's infamous secret police chief Manuel Contreras from 1973 to 1976. Rights activists have long alleged that she was personally involved in the kidnapping and torture of dissidents.

She was considered an active agent for the National Intelligence Directorate (Dina), which was tasked with hunting down political opponents following Pinochet's military coup in September 1973.

Dina agents were responsible for the abduction, torture, and killing of thousands, before the agency was replaced by the equally brutal CNI, an army intelligence battalion.

Rivas has described her years at the Dina as 'the best of my life' during a 2013 interview with Australian broadcaster SBS, denying any wrongdoing. When asked about the torture carried out by Dina agents, she remarked that they had to break the people – it has happened all over the world, not only in Chile.

Chilean prosecutors accuse Rivas of participating in the 1976 forced disappearance of the secretary-general of Chile's Communist Party, Víctor Díaz, along with six other Communist Party members, all of whom are assumed to have been killed in detention. Among them, the youngest was 29-year-old Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza, who was pregnant at the time.

Rivas is alleged to have been involved in the detention and ensured the victims' safety while serving in various operational roles. Witnesses from interviews with documentary filmmaker Lissette Orozco have claimed that she was one of Dina's "most brutal torturers," playing a key role in the elite Lautaro Brigade which targeted leaders of Chile's underground Communist Party. Orozco, who is Rivas' niece, spent five years creating a documentary on her aunt, which premiered at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival.