Luis Gerez, right, arrives home in Buenos Aires after being freed by abductors who abused him physically and psychologically.

Natacha pisarenko / the associated press

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A witness in a human-rights trial was abducted and tortured using methods reminiscent of Argentina's military dictatorships decades ago, government officials and associates of the victim said Saturday.

Luis Gerez was found Friday night in the city of Garin, 28 miles north of Buenos Aires, two days after he vanished. He was shirtless and bore the marks of having been beaten and burned with cigarettes, authorities said.

Gerez, who disappeared Wednesday, was scared but generally in good condition, relatives said. He was tossed from a speeding automobile on a deserted street.

Alberto Fernandez de Rosa, a friend who spoke with Gerez shortly after he was taken to a hospital, said the 51-year-old construction worker told him he was abducted by at least three men who kept him blindfolded the entire time, tied him to an iron bar and subjected him to physical and psychological abuse.

Gerez, who has accused a former police chief of torturing him during the 1966-1973 dictatorship, was released shortly after President Nestor Kirchner told the nation that former security agents from past military regimes were believed to be behind his disappearance.

Kirchner said former agents were also responsible for the disappearance of Julio Lopez, a witness in another rights case who has been missing since Sep. 18.

The president said former agents sought to intimidate potential witnesses in several pending legal cases stemming from the so-called dirty war waged by the military regime against suspected subversives.