Madrid - An Argentine-Dutch pilot who was detained in Spain has denied participating in the crimes of Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship, his lawyer said Tuesday. Julio Alberto Poch, 57, told an interrogating judge at Madrid's National Court that the charges on which Argentina was requesting his extradition were based on a misunderstanding.
The pilot of the Dutch airline Transavia was held at the airport of Valencia in eastern Spain on September 22.
Poch was wanted by the Argentine judiciary for his alleged involvement in the so-called death flights, in which drugged government opponents were thrown from aircraft into the Atlantic or the Rio de la Plata.
Poch told judge Eloy Velasco that his colleagues who had reported him to the Dutch authorities had misinterpreted comments he made while having a meal with them in Indonesia.
Poch, who was a frigate lieutenant and navy pilot during the Argentine dictatorship, said he had criticized the death flights instead of saying he took part in them.
Poch's lawyer attributed his arrest to political reasons.
Argentina was expected to confirm its request for Poch's extradition.
The Argentine dictatorship is believed to have claimed the lives of around 30,000 people that the regime regarded as being against its interests, although most of the bodies have never been found and remain technically missing. Death flights are regarded as key in this strategy of forced disappearances.
