The lawyer for captured American fugitive George Wright on Thursday filed his arguments in a Lisbon court against the 68-year-old's extradition.
The U.S. is trying to extradite Wright to serve the rest of his 15- to 30-year sentence for a 1962 murder in New Jersey. Wright had served more than seven years before breaking out of prison in 1970 and had been on the run for four decades until his arrest last week in a hamlet near a stunning beach about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Lisbon, Portugal's capital.
Lawyer Manuel Luis Ferreira contends that Wright is now a Portuguese citizen and should be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence in Portugal, where his wife and two grown children live.
"At the heart of my argument is that he's Portuguese and he has a Portuguese family," Ferreira told The Associated Press.
Wright became a Portuguese citizen called Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos in 1991 after marrying a Portuguese woman, Ferreira said.
Wright's new identity was given to him by the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, when it granted Wright political asylum in the 1980s and that was accepted by Portugal, according to the lawyer.
Ferreira told the AP he delivered almost 100 documents to the court Thursday, the deadline for his submission.
He said the case touches on many issues, "such as the penal code, constitutional rights and the (international) convention on human rights."
He said he couldn't reveal more details due to confidentiality laws governing court cases in Portugal.
The judge will now ask lawyers for the U.S. for its counter-arguments and may call witnesses before announcing his decision in coming weeks. The decision can be appealed to higher courts, and the entire process could take months or longer.
U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined comment on Ferreira's legal arguments and the American legal strategy to force Wright's return to the United States.
Wright broke out of Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, on Aug. 19, 1970. He was also part of a Black Liberation Army group that hijacked a U.S. plane to Algeria in 1972, the FBI says.
____
Alan Clendenning contributed from Madrid.