Last update - 00:00 25/04/2007
Escaped cab driver killer Moshe Ben Ivgi released from Argentina jail
By Michal Greenberg, Haaretz Correspondent
Moshe Ben Ivgi, convicted killer of Israeli taxi driver Derek Roth, was released from an Argentinean jail on Tuesday after being released several weeks ago, but then immediately arrested again.
Ben Ivgi's attorney successfully appealed his repeat arrest, and says that his client plans to remain in Buenos Aires with his Israeli wife and their 14-month-old baby.
The Argentinean Supreme Court will decide in the upcoming months whether to hold further hearings on Israel's extradition request.
Argentinean judges had rejected Israel's extradition request a month ago and released Ben Ivgi, having decided not to prosecute him on his illegal entry into the country through the use of forged documents. However, following his release, Israel pressured the Argentinean authorities to reconsider, and Ben Ivgi was placed back in custody.
Ben Ivgi's Argentine attorney appealed both his re-arrest and the decision to reconsider Israel's extradition request.
Ben Ivgi had escaped Israel in 2004, and joined a friend he had met in the Israeli prison who had also escaped to Argentina. There is no extradition agreement between Israel and Argentina.
According to Ben Ivgi's attorney, his client had met his wife in Israel, during one of his furloughs from prison. After his escape, she joined him in Argentina.
Ben Ivgi's lawyer also stated that he believes that Israel's appeal to the Supreme Court over a legal technicality will take some time, during which Ben-Ivgi will remain free.
At the end of 2006, Argentina's Supreme Court rejected the extradition over the technicality, and Israel was given a 30-day period in which to resubmit the request. Due to unknown reasons, the second extradition request was not submitted in time.
Ben-Ivgi was arrested in Buenos Aires on October 16, 2004. Even if Ben Ivgi was to be extradited, an Argentinean court has decided that he would only serve a maximum of five years, since he was a minor when he murdered Derek Roth.
The five-year sentence imposed on him would be a penalty for the robbery of a grocery store in 1998, when he was no longer a minor.
Moshe Ben-Ivgi was 14 when he and his friend Arbel Aloni killed taxi driver Derek Roth in 1994. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Then, after robbing a grocery store while on furlough, Ben-Ivgi was sentenced to five additional years in prison.
Two and a half years ago, on another furlough from prison, Ben-Ivgi managed to flee to Argentina with a forged passport. He was arrested in Argentina six months later, and Israel requested his extradition and has so far been refused.