Ex-Argentine officer wanted by Italy turns himself in

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- A former Argentine naval officer accused of kidnapping and torturing three Italians during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship has turned himself in to judicial authorities.

An Italian judge has requested Alfredo Astiz's extradition, accusing him of leading a navy "task group" that arrested Angela Maria Aieta, Juan Pegoraro and Susana Pegoraro in Buenos Aires in 1976 or 1977. An Argentine judge issued a warrant for his arrest Friday.

Astiz's attorney told reporters that the former navy captain was taken into custody at a Coast Guard jail.

In 1990, a French court sentenced Astiz in absentia to life in prison for the murders of French nuns, but his extradition to France was rejected by local courts.

Astiz was prosecuted in Argentina for human rights violations after democratic rule was restored in 1983 but has benefited from amnesty laws.

One of his attorneys was confident the Italian extradition would be rejected on the grounds that Argentina insists that its citizens must be tried by its own courts for actions committed on its own territory.

Officials say more than 9,000 people disappeared during Argentina's "dirty war" -- the dictatorship's crackdown on leftists. Human rights groups claim the figure is nearer 30,000.

-- CNN Correspondent Carolina Cayazzo contributed to this report