A former Sydney nanny accused of crimes against humanity during her time in the Chilean secret police has lost a desperate bid to block her extradition.
The full bench of the Federal Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal brought by Adriana Rivas as she fights to prevent being sent back to the South American country to answer allegations she was involved in the disappearance of seven political dissidents.
Ms Rivas has been extradited to Chile where she has been charged with seven counts of aggravated kidnapping relating to her time as a member of Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (DINA) in the 1970s.
She is alleged to have been a co-perpetrator in the disappearance and killing of Community Party members during the brutal Augusto Pinochet regime.
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Ms Rivas has admitted that she was a member of (DINA) but has denied any wrongdoing or involvement in any crimes.
The Federal Court has previously been told the central allegation against Ms Rivas is that she was an agent in the “Lautaro Brigade”, a special operative branch of DINA.
According to Chilean Police, the Lautaro Brigade was involved in the interrogation, torture and murder of political dissidents.
Ms Rivas has been charged in Chile over the alleged disappearance of six male Communist Party members and Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza, who was five months pregnant when she was allegedly captured, in 1976.
The court has previously been told that according to the Chilean Interior Ministry, DINA personnel carried out shocking acts of torture and murder at the Simón Bolívar Headquarters that housed the Lautaro Brigade.
The court was told that detainees were electrocuted before being suffocated with a plastic bag. Welding torches were used to burn off identifying features before their bodies were dropped into the ocean by air force helicopters.
Ms Rivas has denied being s a member of the Lautaro Brigade and claims she carried out “ secretarial and administrative duties” for DINA.
She immigrated to Australia in the late 1970s and worked as a nanny in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
In August 2018, Canberra received an extradition request and she was in February 2019 arrested.
A Sydney magistrate ruled that she was eligible for extradition before she lost appeals in the NSW Supreme and Federal courts.
She appealed to the full bench of the Federal Court; however, Justices Debra Mortimer, Robert Bromwich and Stewart Anderson on Wednesday dismissed it on all 17 grounds.
Most of Ms Rivas’ arguments centred on attacking the prosecution case; however, the court ruled that it was not its role to determine the strength of the case against her.
“The extradition process does not involve a determination of guilt or innocence,” the justices said in their judgment.
She also claimed her extradition was a result of “political pressure” and that it violated Chile’s own Amnesty laws.
Her appeal was dismissed on all grounds and she was also ordered to pay the Republic of Chile’s legal costs.
It means Ms Rivas has all but exhausted her avenues of appeal and will only be saved from extradition if she successfully appeals to the High Court.