ROME, March 14 (Reuters) - An Italian court sentenced five Argentine "Dirty War" officers to life in prison, in absentia, on Wednesday for kidnapping and killing three Italian citizens in the early years of the 1976-83 dictatorship.

The men condemned for the deaths of Angela Maria Aieta and Giovanni and Susanna Pegoraro include some of the most infamous names linked to the Navy Mechanical School (ESMA), a clandestine torture centre in Buenos Aires.

Alfredo Astiz, known as the "Blond Angel", is wanted in Spain, France and Sweden on similar charges and Jorge "Tiger" Acosta is wanted in France and Sweden.

The others were former ESMA chief Jorge Vildoza and Navy personnel Antonio Vanek and Hector Antonio Febres.

They were all members of the so-called "Task Forces" which snatched, tortured and killed thousands of people in a brutal crackdown on leftists and anyone suspected of sympathising.

Astiz is one of dozens of death squad men Argentina is now trying for some of the 18,000 disappearances that are officially listed. Human rights groups put the toll closer to 30,000.

After living in freedom for years thanks to amnesties that were introduced in the decade after the dictatorship ended, they now face fresh trials after the Supreme Court in Argentina ruled that the amnesties were unlawful.

Judicial sources said the Rome criminal court presided by Judge Lucio D'Andria Court agreed with the prosecutor's request for life jail sentences but also applied the maximum term to Vanek, whom the prosecutor had said should be acquitted.

Italy has also sought a medical examination of Admiral Emilio Massera, a member of the first military junta, to see if he can be tried as the officer ultimately responsible for the deaths.

Wanted in Spain, France and Germany, Massera was declared mentally incompetent after a brain seizure a few years ago.

Prosecutors here have probed hundreds of cases of Italians who disappeared in the dictatorship. Some went to trial but none of the culprits were extradited.

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