Italy blocks extradition of priest accused of Argentina junta crimes

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's justice minister has blocked the extradition to Argentina of a priest accused of crimes against humanity during a military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

Father Franco Reverberi, 86, faces charges related to the alleged murder in 1976 of 20-year-old political activist Jose Guillermo Beron, and his alleged participation in torture by the junta led by Jorge Rafael Videla.

Reverberi, who has Argentine and Italian nationality, has always denied any wrongdoing.

Italy's top appeals court cleared his extradition in October, but Justice Minister Carlo Nordio had the right to either confirm or block the decision.

The source told Reuters he vetoed the extradition on account of Reverberi's advanced age and the state of his health.

The priest, formerly a military chaplain in junta-ruled Argentina, had returned to his hometown near Parma, in northern Italy, in 2011, after trials against pro-junta figures had started in Argentina.

During the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, under the so-called Dirty War, as many as 30,000 leftist opponents "disappeared" in Argentina, a euphemism for kidnapped and murdered, according to human rights groups.

In a parallel case, a trial is set to start in Rome on April 22 against an Argentine army officer, Lt. Col. Carlos Luis Malatto, accused of the premeditated killing of eight people under the Videla regime.

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Emilio Parodi, editing by Alvise Armellini and Nick Macfie)