A Bondi-based nanny accused of egregious torture and kidnapping offences during Chile’s brutal Pinochet regime is poised to make a final bid to avoid extradition to face justice in South America. The coming days will see a crucial two-day hearing before Justice Michael Lee, who will consider Adriana Rivas’s last-ditch appeal.
Ms Rivas, now 72, was initially arrested in Chile in 2007 on charges of aggravated kidnapping. She subsequently fled back to Australia in 2011 while on bail, leaving a trail of legal and human rights concerns.
Chilean authorities allege that Ms Rivas played a significant role in the abduction, brutal interrogation, and subsequent disappearances of at least seven victims during the oppressive years of the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s. Ms Rivas has consistently denied these grave accusations.
Disturbing Testimony and Allegations
Prosecution claims are bolstered by the testimony of a former servant at the notorious Simon Bolivar Barracks. This individual has reportedly stated that Ms Rivas was directly involved in kidnapping individuals and allegedly took a prominent part in interrogating detainees during harrowing torture sessions. These sessions reportedly occurred at a facility described as an “extermination centre” by the regime.
Further adding weight to the allegations, this former servant, whose evidence has previously led to the arrest and conviction of several other Pinochet agents, spoke to ABC Foreign Correspondent in 2014. In that interview, the servant detailed how Ms Rivas allegedly subjected detainees to beatings and electric shocks, and even held recording devices near their mouths as forced confessions were extracted.
Questions Surrounding Escape to Australia
In a development that has raised significant questions, previously undisclosed emails suggest a potential role played by an Australian embassy officer in facilitating Ms Rivas’s escape to Australia. In correspondence sent in 2012 to the then-housing minister, Ms Rivas reportedly stated that an Australian consular official had “helped me all the way” in her departure from Chile. She also indicated that she had informed this official of “my decision to leave Chile.”
However, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has maintained that it holds no records indicating that consular officials were aware of Ms Rivas’s intention to breach bail conditions or that they assisted her in leaving Chile for Australia.
Greens senator David Shoebridge has voiced strong criticism of DFAT’s stance, suggesting the department has not been entirely transparent. “We have Ms Rivas in her own writing describing how the embassy in Chile was aware of her intention to breach bail and to exit the country,” Senator Shoebridge stated. “When we placed that directly to DFAT, we got effectively a deflection… there is obviously an obligation for DFAT to give full and frank disclosure to the Australian community, particularly the Chilean-Australian community.”
The Brutal Legacy of the Pinochet Regime
The National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) under the Pinochet dictatorship was a feared secret police force tasked with eradicating political opposition. It is held responsible for the deaths of over 2,000 Chileans and the torture of tens of thousands more between 1973 and 1990. Prisoners endured horrific abuse, including electric shocks, waterboarding, sexual violence, and experimental forms of torture.
Chile formally submitted its extradition request for Ms Rivas in 2014. Since 2019, she has been held in detention in Australia, awaiting the outcome of the extradition process.
A Fugitive for Sixteen Years
Ms Rivas is understood to have worked for the Pinochet regime between 1973 and 1977, according to her own communications from 2012. She then relocated to Australia in 1978.
Upon Chile’s initial formal extradition request in 2014, Ms Rivas vehemently denied the charges levelled against her. In an interview with SBS at the time, she controversially defended the use of torture as a necessary measure during the Pinochet era.
That same year, the then-shadow attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, declared in a statement to the House of Representatives that Ms Rivas was a “fugitive from justice” and that her case demanded swift resolution. He emphasised the extreme gravity of the allegations, stating, “It is almost impossible to overstate the seriousness of the allegations made against Ms Rivas. I hope the government will move swiftly to ensure that justice is done by doing everything possible to return Adriana Rivas to Chile to face the trial from which she fled.”
Decades of Legal Battles and Denied Justice
Since these events, Ms Rivas has engaged in a protracted legal battle, navigating numerous appeals processes to resist her extradition.
Adriana Navarro, a lawyer representing the Australian families of several victims of the Pinochet regime, has expressed deep frustration, stating that justice has been effectively denied to some family members who have passed away while awaiting Ms Rivas to face trial in Chile.
“It [has taken] much longer than what we expected,” Ms Navarro commented. “The final decision to send her to Chile was made by the attorney-general in 2024, so this last attempt by Ms Rivas to object to it has lasted close to two years now. That’s just far too long. Even when one understands the complexities of the law, these matters should really proceed much faster. Sometimes delay means you don’t get any justice. In the case of the families of my clients, some of the spouses for example have passed away, and some of the children of the victims have passed away.”
Ms Navarro highlighted that the extradition request for Ms Rivas has become one of the longest-running in Australia’s legal history. She stressed that the crimes committed by the Pinochet regime represented a profound harm to all of Chile, and that the community requires reparation and accountability to begin the process of healing.
Senator Shoebridge echoed these sentiments, urging the government to cease any further attempts by Ms Rivas to delay her extradition following the conclusion of the two-day hearing. “There’s this incredible frustration the community has that this has taken decades and decades for someone to face justice, someone who has been accused of the most horrific crimes still hasn’t faced justice,” Senator Shoebridge remarked. “This case is one of inexplicable delay, inexplicable delay inside the bureaucracy before matters are put before the minister.”
While acknowledging individuals’ rights to pursue legal avenues, Senator Shoebridge also emphasised the imperative of justice for the victims and their families. “I hope that they resolve in an order so that this individual will return to Chile to face justice, but what I would also hope is that there is a resolve from Australian authorities to ensure this is the end of the road, no more stays, no more years and months and months waiting for resolution,” he concluded.
It remains possible for Ms Rivas to appeal Justice Lee’s decision for a review by the full bench of the Federal Court, though such processes are typically expedited. She could also theoretically seek leave to appeal to the High Court, but she has previously abandoned such an attempt, and legal experts question whether a sufficiently significant point of national law exists to justify such a high-level appeal.
