Uruguay: Spanish High Court examines extradition of accused military dictatorship torturer

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the report forwarded to Spain by the Uruguayan authorities, reproduced by the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office, several victims of the torture practiced in FUSNA identified Gallo Sconamiglio as having been involved.

The facts date back to August 1979. Two victims say that “people in civilian clothes but heavily armed” broke into their house on August 7, arrested them and took them hooded to FUSNA, where they were tortured.

One of the people illegally detained that day says that she was first raped and then subjected to electric shocks and the “waterboarding” technique, forcing her to remain in water for one or two days.

This victim recalls four torturers including Gallo Sconamiglio, whom she says was not involved in the rape but in the electric shocks.

On the night of August 7, another couple was arrested, according to Uruguayan authorities. Individuals identified as “members of the ‘Joint Forces'” took them from their home to FUSNA, “where they were subjected to physical abuse.”

Specifically, they were subjected to “electric shocks” and “waterboarding,” in addition to being “held with their arms spread apart and beaten in several parts of the body.” In their case, they recognize Gallo Sconamiglio as an interrogator but not a torturer.

PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OPPOSED TO HIS SURRENDER

A Montevideo Court is demanding that he be tried for crimes against humanity and other crimes, which could lead to a sentence of 17 years in prison. However, the Prosecutor’s Office considers that the statute of limitations period under the Spanish Criminal Code has run so it opposes extradition.

Nevertheless, the Prosecutor’s Office states that “the crime for which extradition is requested is not of a political or military nature, and there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the extradition request was prompted by the purpose of persecuting or punishing the defendant.”