- Title: ARGENTINA: Argentine court releases Dirty War officers
- Date: 20th December 2008
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RODOLFO MATTAROLO, UNDER SECRETARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS, SAYING: "One possibility would be to ask for a meeting with the country's Supreme Court to avoid a judicial scandal which is what it would be to free people with such serious accusations, in agreement with the truly shocking proof that has been gathered over the many years."
- Embargoed: 4th January 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Reuters ID: LVA16HH5D6TNIVYNS6B0JTMLAKA6
- Story Text: Argentine courts releases Dirty War naval officers accused of killing and abusing citizens during the military dictatorship.
Am Argentine court on Thursday (December 18) ordered the release of 12 former naval officers charged with murder and torture during Argentina's so-called Dirty War, drawing fire from the country's president, who has made human rights a centrepiece of her government.
The ex-officers, who still face trial, include one of the most notorious figures of Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship, Alfredo Astiz, known as the "blond angel of death."
The decision by a senior federal criminal court came under a law that says accused people in custody for two years without being convicted and sentenced must be released pending trial.
"Today the Argentine justice system ordered the freedom of the people accused of massive violations of human rights in this same location, in this same place. They shame Argentina and humanity," President Cristina Fernandez said in a speech at the Naval Mechanics School, or ESMA, the site of one of the country's biggest concentration camps and torture centres during the dictatorship.
"That's why I say that today is a day of shame for Argentines, for humanity and for our judicial system," she said.
Astiz is charged with the murder of two French nuns in 1977. He is also accused of infiltrating human rights groups during the dictatorship and identifying some victims to be kidnapped and murdered by kissing them during a church service.
He was convicted in France in absentia for the killing of the nuns but Fernandez said it's critical for Argentina, as a country, to try its own suspects.
"It's an issue that has to do with our existence as a state of law. It has to do with our good name and our ability to be presentable before the international community, able within our own institutions, with Argentine law, to try and punish lawbreakers. It would shame me greatly if it were the courts of another country, if it were through extradition that justice would finally be done because we Argentines haven't achieved it (justice) in more than 25 years of demands and struggle by human rights organizations," she said.
The president's appearance at ESMA had been previously scheduled to commemorate the international human rights treaty.
Some of the ex-officers ordered released on Thursday are charged with crimes at ESMA.
"They (the Dirty War repressors) have always had the judges on their side because it can't be that, after so many years, so few are jailed-- what is it, three, half a dozen? There were thousands who disappeared.
Thousands tortured. If one or another (of the defendants) died, that would be another matter but the judges? That's unforgivable," said Aurora Belloccio, a leader of the human rights group, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
Only a handful of severe prison sentences have been handed down for members of the security forces, many now elderly, convicted of kidnapping, torturing and killing dissidents.
A government report says more than 11,000 people died or disappeared during the "Dirty War," a crackdown on leftists and other opponents of the military government at the time. Human rights groups say the number is closer to 30,000.
In 2005, Argentina's Supreme Court, at the urging of then-President Nestor Kirchner, struck down two amnesty laws that shielded hundreds of former officers from charges of human rights abuses during the dictatorship. Kirchner was succeeded by his wife, who has maintained his focus on human rights.
Under Secretary of Human Rights Rodolfo Mattarolo said perhaps this case should be taken back to the Supreme Court.
"One possibility would be to ask for a meeting with the country's Supreme Court to avoid a judicial scandal which is what it would be to free people with such serious accusations, in agreement with the truly shocking proof that has been gathered over the many years," he said.
Many of the military junta's top leaders are under house arrest on charges of kidnapping babies born to mothers held in captivity during military rule - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None