Oppressors Trial Delay Worries Kirchner

[Judi Lynn]

Oppressors Trial Delay Worries Kirchner

Buenos Aires, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) Argentine President Nestor Kirchner is very concerned about delays in the trials of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship tormentors in that South American country, and called to speed them up.

Referring to the performance of justice against those accused of human rights violations in that dark period of national history, Nestor Kirchner asserted the trials should be held rapidly, while safeguarding due process..

The president noted there were over 290 concentration camps in the country, but at present only 200 to 300 of the oppressors in them are under arrest. It would seem there was only one oppressor per concentration camp, perhaps the prisoners detained themselves, he said ironically.

Only two tormentors, of a list that may include more than a thousand, have been tried.

The president of Argentina asserted that the Supreme Court s finding of the unconstitutionality of the Final Point and Due Obedience legislation is fundamental, and exhorted judges not to be afraid.
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http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={D0C6B809-B377-4403-834A-3EBBDD3155F7}&language=EN

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Argentina: ex-agent gets 25 years
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Mon, 08/07/2006 - 21:12.
On Aug. 4, a federal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina, sentenced former federal police officer Julio Simon to 25 years of prison for the 1978 abduction and torture of Chilean citizen Jose Poblete Roa and his Argentine companion, Gertrudis Hlaczik, and the theft of the couple's eight-month-old daughter, Claudia Victoria.

It was the first such sentence since Argentina's Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that two amnesty laws passed in the 1980s were unconstitutional, clearing the way for trials over human rights abuses committed during the country's 1976-1983 dictatorship.

In recent months, trials have gone forward in nearly 1,000 cases of crimes against humanity; some 211 people are detained in relation to these cases, according to official figures. Simon, whose nickname was "Turco Julian," is himself facing charges in 200 other cases involving abduction and torture.

Poblete, Hlaczik and their daughter were abducted in November 1978; the couple was last seen at the clandestine detention center known as El Olimpo. Claudia Victoria was given to an army lieutenant colonel; her true identity was uncovered years later by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. (El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Aug. 5, 6, both from AP; La Jornada, Mexico, Aug. 5)
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http://ww4report.com/node/2286

[Judi Lynn]

1. Argentine jailed over 'Dirty War' (Nixon-Kissinger supported)

Saturday, 5 August 2006, 00:23 GMT 01:23 UK

Argentine jailed over 'Dirty War'

An Argentine court has sentenced an ex- policeman, Julio Simon, to 25 years in jail for the disappearance of a couple and abduction of their baby in 1978.
This is the first sentence against a former government agent for human rights violations since 2005 when the supreme court overturned amnesty laws.

That ruling stripped former security force members of protection from prosecution for human rights abuses.

Some 30,000 people disappeared during military rule between 1976 and 1983.

Kidnapping, torture and killing were widely used against suspected left-wing activists during the "Dirty War".
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5247472.stm

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Posted on Fri, Aug. 04, 2006
Ex-Argentine officer sentenced for abuse
DEBORA REY
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A former police officer was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for human rights abuses in connection with the 1978 disappearance of a married couple during Argentina's military dictatorship.

It was the first conviction since 1980s amnesty laws protecting former military and police officials accused of dictatorship-era atrocities were overturned last year by the Supreme Court.

A federal tribunal in Buenos Aires convicted former officer Julio Simon of the torture and "illegal privation" of liberty of Chilean Jose Poblete and his Argentine wife, Gertrudis Hlaczik, as well having taken away their daughter, who at the time was 8 months old, a court statement said.

Human rights groups hailed the ruling as a victory, saying it marked a step toward obtaining justice after the 1976-83 dictatorship.

Argentina's military rulers seized power on March 24, 1976, beginning seven years of rule in which prosecutors say they waged a systematic crackdown on dissidents known as the "Dirty War." An official report said some 13,000 people disappeared during that period while human rights groups put the figure at around 30,000.

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Monday, August 07, 2006

Argentina court hands down first 'Dirty War' sentence since amnesty laws scrapped
Jaime Jansen at 9:43 AM ET

A court in Argentina has convicted a former police officer of human rights violations during the country's so-called "Dirty War" , handing down the first sentence since the Argentine Supreme Court threw out the country's amnesty laws last year. After a trial which began in late June, Julio Simon was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday for the disappearance of Jose Poblete and his wife in 1978, and the abduction of their baby daughter, Claudia. Authorities assume the couple was murdered after police took the couple into state custody at a secret torture center known as "El Olimpo." Poblete was a political opponent of the former Argentine military regime that saw the disappearance of at least 13,000 people between 1976 and 1983; some human rights groups estimate as many as 30,000 people disappeared.

Former police investigator Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz went on trial earlier in June on murder, kidnapping and torture charges, making him the first former government official to stand trial for crimes committed during the Dirty War in 20 years. Etchecolatz's trial is still ongoing. The amnesty laws, known as the Full Stop Law and the Law of Due Obedience , were passed in the 1980s by the democratically elected government that replaced the junta and were meant to prevent rebellions among the military.
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http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/08/argentina-court-hands-down-first-dirty.php