Jorge Videla, Argentina's de facto president from 1976-81, was due to testify yesterday after being arrested in connection with the illegal seizure of children under the military dicatorship.
Mr Videla, a former general, was arrested on Tuesday night on the order of a judge investigating the cases of five children born to political prisoners kidnapped by military death squads in 1976-78.
The children were then allegedly handed over for illegal adoption to couples connected with the military. Many similar cases are being investigated.
The arrest order is likely to cause unease in the government, which has sought to draw a line under the abuses of the 1976-83 military regime. Ministers refused to comment yesterday beyond saying it was "a judicial matter." Human rights groups reacted with a mixture of surprise and delight.
Mr Videla, who led the 1976 coup against President Isabel Peron, was condemned to life imprisonment in 1985 for human rights abuses, but freed in 1990 after being pardoned by President Carlos Menem.
In 1987 Mr Menem's predecessor, Raul Alfonsin, banned any fresh human rights prosecutions in an effort to cool continued military unrest. But human rights groups have kept up the pressure for full investigations into the military's activities. Up to 30,000 people "disappeared" during military rule, many of them killed in secret torture centres.
Human rights groups have increasingly focused their investigations into the military's alleged seizure of babies and children, a crime not covered by the presidential pardons. They are also examining the possibility of prosecutions for economic crimes, such as seizing victims' assets.
The issue continues to dog the government at home and abroad. During a trip to Scandinavia last month Mr Menem was confronted with demands by the Swiss and Finnish governments for further investigation into cases involving its citizens.
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