BUENOS AIRES - (AP) -- Antonio Domingo Bussi, the former military commander of Tucumán province during the past dictatorship, was detained Wednesday by a federal judge probing a lawmaker's 1976 disappearance.

  Bussi, the de facto governor of the central province during the 1976-83 junta, made an initial court appearance there in connection with the case of a provincial senator,
  Guillermo Vargas Aignasse. The retired general was taken to an army facility in San Miguel de Tucumán.

  Bussi, who is mayor-elect of the provincial capital, has repeatedly insisted on his innocence in connection with accusations surrounding the seven-year dictatorship.

  The detention throws up new legal obstacles for Bussi just as he is poised to assume his elected post. In July, Bussi defeated Geronimo Vargas Aignasse, son of the
  missing senator, by only 17 votes in an election.