ARGENTINA: French nun Leonie Duquet who was kidnapped and killed in Country's Dirty War in 1977 is laid to rest in Buenos Aires.

Record ID: 447991

  • Title: ARGENTINA: French nun Leonie Duquet who was kidnapped and killed in Country's Dirty War in 1977 is laid to rest in Buenos Aires.
  • Date: 26th September 2005
  • Summary: WIDE OF MEN DIGGING
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAA45SGVD3F5J1E61XT96ZNK8H4
  • Story Text: The remains of Leonie Duquet, one of two French nuns whose disappearances in 1977 came to symbolize the brutality of Argentina's military dictatorship were laid to rest at the Santa Cruz church in Buenos Aires on Sunday (September 25) where she worked until her kidnapping.
    The remains of Leonie Duquet, who was abducted from a Roman Catholic church by security forces, were identified using DNA testing with a blood sample from a relative in France in August.
    Duquet's family wanted her to be buried near the people she served.
    "Memory is something that is very important, but what is even more important is justice. Justice has to continue moving forward, not with a spirit of vengeance - that would be vain justice. But so that in no part of the world these happenings and their consequences could happen again," said Duquet's niece, Noelle, who is also a nun.
    Duquet was found among unmarked graves with the bodies of 11 other "disappeared", including a founding member of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a leading human rights group.
    Officially, some 12,000 people either died or disappeared during Argentina's "Dirty War" -- a systematic crackdown on leftists and dissidents during the 1976-1983 military rule. Human rights groups put the number at 30,000.
    The investigation of their disappearances is among several emblematic human rights cases that have led to the arrests of Dirty War-era officials.
    "I ask the youth of our country, you know that the future of the whole world and here in Argentina is in your hands. We will support you to scream out the truth. Never be quiet, don't be afraid, there is only one history. Truth exists. To cover the truth is to give way to killing," said Duquet's colleague, Ivonne Pierron.
    Witnesses say the 61-year-old Duquet and fellow French nun Alice Domon were last seen being taken to the Naval Mechanical School in Buenos Aires, the dictatorship's notorious detention centre where thousands were tortured.
    The fate of Domon, like the vast majority of the regime's victims, remains unknown.
    Alfredo Astiz, a former naval officer currently under arrest in Argentina on charges of murder and torture, was convicted in France in absentia for the killing of the two French nuns and sentenced to life in prison in 1990.
    Astiz was known as "the blond angel of death" for allegedly infiltrating human rights groups and identifying dissidents by kissing them during church services, according to rights groups.
    Many of the Junta's top leaders, including former Gen. Jorge Videla and Adm. Emilio Massera, are under house arrest on charges of kidnapping babies born to mothers held in captivity during military rule.
    Hundreds of former officers could face trial for murder and torture after Argentina's Supreme Court struck down two amnesty laws in June that shielded them from prosecution for Dirty War crimes.
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