Argentina's historic Trial of the Juntas turns 30.
Last edited Wed Dec 9, 2015, 08:09 PM - Edit history (1)
Thirty years ago today, six judges issued sentences against five of the nine military leaders who commanded the bloodiest dictatorship ever suffered by the country. The country will pay tribute today to the trial that is widely seen as the cornerstone of Argentine democracy, as well as making history as the first time in world history that a former dictatorship was tried for its abuses by civilian courts (Nuremberg was a military tribunal).
Many still remember that fateful afternoon on December 9, 1985, when Judge León Arslanián cleared his throat and started reading the verdict that changed the country’s history and that was seen as an example across the world of what some define as “transitional justice.” General Jorge Videla, President between 1976 and 1981 and the iconic face of the state terror era in the country, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Admiral Emilio Massera, the head of the Navy during the first Junta (until 1979), received the same sentence. Massera, probably the most infamous figure from the dictatorship for his brutality and corruption alike, was the man in charge of the country’s most infamous clandestine detention center, the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA); at least 5,000 died at ESMA.
Army General Roberto Viola (president during the 1981 economic collapse), who succeeded Videla, was sentenced to 17 years. Former Navy chief, Admiral Armando Lambruschini, to eight years, and General Orlando Agosti, head of the Air Force until 1979, to four and a half years in prison.
Other Junta leaders were acquitted, however. These controversial acquittals included Air Force General Basilio Lami Dozo, Admiral Jorge Anaya, and General Leopoldo Galtieri - the trio best known for their disastrous invasion of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands in 1982, which killed over 300 British soldiers and over 600 Argentine soldiers. The three were, however, sentenced in 1986 to prison for Criminal Malfeasance for their role in the war.
The conclusion of this historic trial is honored on each anniversary; but it's easy to forget that 30 years ago there were no celebrations. The acquittals, and the fact that hundreds of other repressers were not charged during the trial, left a bitter taste in the mouths of human rights activists. “This is unacceptable,” said Adriana Calvo at the time according to Pablo Llonto’s book El Juicio que no se vio (The Unseen Trial). Calvo was the first survivor to testify at the trial.
President Raúl Alfonsín in 1984 entrusted prosecutors Julio Strassera — who died in February — and Luis Moreno Ocampo with one key task: to prove the existence of clandestine detention centres, of forcibly disappeared people and of systematic repression. The National Commission on the Forced Disappearance of Persons (Conadep) and its report Never Again were fundamental tools for those prosecuting some of the country’s most powerful men.
On April 22, 1985, human rights activists packed the special Federal Court presided by Judges Arslanian, Ricardo Gil Lavedra, Jorge Torlasco, Jorge Valerga Aráoz, Guillermo Ledesma and Andrés D’Alessio. Between April and September, Strassera and Moreno Ocampo listened to more than 800 witnesses. Throughout their testimonies it suddenly became clear the tortures, rapes, kidnapping, murders and forced disappearances did not constitute mere excesses by individual military officers — they were part of a systematic plan.
Strassera’s closing remarks, delivered September 18, would remain the memorable moment in the trial: “Your Honors,” Strassera said, “I would like to use a phrase that does not belong to me, but to all Argentine people — Your Honors, Never Again!”
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/204645/the-verdict-that-changed-a-country-turns-30
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A historic anniversary, for Argentina and the world alike. It should also be noted though, that it wasn't until President Néstor Kichner signed the bill nullifying the 1986 amnesty laws protecting the hundreds of officers charged with Dirty War human rights abuses that the guilty were systematically brought to trial for their crimes against humanity.
Over the last twelve years, 1,046 have been charged, and 592 have been convicted. The Argentine right has, of course, never forgiven the Kirchners for finally throwing the book at these people - and the new President, Mauricio Macri, should be observed closely for any signs of turning back the clock of these trials. He will certainly try.
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