Argentine ex-army chief held over dictatorship crimes
The commander of Argentina's armed forces from 2013 to 2015, Cesar Milani, was arrested Friday over his alleged involvement in two kidnappings during the country's brutal military dictatorship.
Milani was arrested after being questioned over the 1977 kidnappings of Pedro Adan Olivera and his son Ramon Alfredo Olivera, said Delfor Brizuela, the human rights ombudsman for the northwestern province of La Rioja, where the retired general was detained.
The Oliveras say they were abducted and tortured by Milani and his men for alleged involvement in a leftist militant organization -- part of the 1976-1983 regime's "dirty war" on its opponents and their alleged collaborators.
Some 30,000 people were killed or disappeared under military rule.
Milani, 62, has long been accused by human rights groups of involvement in dictatorship-era crimes.
His appointment as army chief by former president Cristina Kirchner in 2013 drew outcry from some activists.
Milani was previously charged with corruption in December over unanswered questions about where he got the money to buy a house in an upscale Buenos Aires suburb in 2010.