struggle4progress
struggle4progress's JournalYour timeline is also wrong:
20 August 2010 The Swedish Prosecutor's Office issues an arrest warrant for Julian Assange ...
21 August 2010 The arrest warrant is withdrawn ...
31 August 2010 Mr Assange is questioned by police for about an hour in Stockholm ...
1 September 2010 Swedish Director of Prosecution Marianne Ny says she is reopening the rape investigation against Mr Assange ... Ms Ny is also head of the department that oversees prosecution of sex crimes ...
Timeline: sexual allegations against Assange in Sweden
16 August 2012 Last updated at 10:31 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341
The investigation continued after withdrawal of the original arrest warrant, and the investigation into the rape allegation was re-opened by the top person who oversees prosecution of sex crimes on the day after Assange's 31 August 2010 interview with the police
Why the “zombie facts” of Assange supporters are wrong (New Statesman)
The legal mythology of the extradition of Julian Assange
By David Allen Green
Published 03 September 2012 10:34
... it may be possible that there is a subjective fear of being extradited to the United States from Sweden, based on the mistaken belief that it would be easy to extradite him to the United States. However, as set out above, even if the United States can get round the First Amendment, Assange would have protections under the Swedish-United States treaty, under ECHR and EU law, and under the domestic law of both Sweden and England. Nonetheless, if he has that fear then this mistaken belief may be sincerely held.
But even taking any subjective fears at their very highest, unless and until there is any extradition request by the United States, then due process of an investigation into allegations of rape and sexual abuse in Sweden must be the priority, and Assange should return to face the accusations. As it stands the criminal investigation is frustrated and unresolved. And complainants of rape and sexual abuse have rights too.
Then there is the rational explanation. In view of the significant protections he would have against onward extradition to the United States from Sweden, it would appear that the only rational (as opposed to subjective) explanation for his refusal is not that he is seeking to avoid any onwards extradition; it is that he simply wants to avoid interrogation and any prosecution for allegations of sexual assault and rape in Sweden.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2012/09/legal-mythology-extradition-julian-assange
A long careful accurate discussion of the facts and the nonsense surrounding the extradition
Wypijewski's piece shows just how much analytical power the Left has lost, by abandoning
historical materialism in favor of smug rhetorical tricks
"The law" (Wypijewski smirks) "is no more capable of delivering justice in <Assange's> case today than it was for a black man alleged to have raped a white woman in the Jim Crow South." She adds: "I am not comparing the founder of WikiLeaks .. with black men on the other side of a lynch mob." But she does make exactly that comparison, at the same time she denies it: "The Scottsboro Boys might have been innocent or they might have been guilty; it didn’t matter, because either way the result would be the same." This dishonest gambit is called apophasis -- and it never adds anything of value to a discussion
The Scottsboro defendants were nine black hobos, riding a freight through Alabama in the early spring of 1931. The youngest was twelve and none was as old as twenty. They were accused of rape and, going to trial within two weeks, all but the youngest was sentenced to death almost immediately by the jury
They were, in fact, lucky not to have been lynched soon after they disembarked the train, having been protected first by the sheriff and later by the National Guard. From 1921 to 1930, there were at least 275 lynchings in the US -- and 90% of the victims were black. It is sometimes tempting to gloss that long ugly thread of Americana, simply as the unkind treatment of a minority group by the majority -- but an examination of the class interests involved shows something else: Jim Crow was an economic system. Antebellum slavery had provided easily-identifiable underclass to exploit and had mystified the exploitation with an elaborate racial ideology. Jim Crow later retained both the underclass and the mythologies used to justify its exploitation, although legal slavery itself was replaced by other forms, such as share-cropping, debt-bondage, and prisoner chain-gang labor. Like slavery before it, Jim Crow depended on violence and unequal protection of the laws. The lynching of black Americans, always without consequence for the perpetrators, was not simply a matter of white people being unpleasant to blacks: it served a distinct purpose in the economic structure, conveying a message to the underclass that their lives simply did not count and that resistance could lead only to pain and death. The violence of the Jim Crow lynchings was a result of carefully-crafted hatred, but it was not merely a result of hatred: it was also an explosive result of the psychological tensions and contradictions required to maintain the irrational ideological views associated with the entire system of oppression
Comparisons with the Assange affair are ridiculous and become more distasteful each time Wypijewski makes such a comparison while simultaneously disavowing the comparison. If Assange's case had resembled in any way the experience of the Scottsboro Nine, he would already have been sentenced to death twice by now
The Assange defense lied about that in UK court, and the UK court caught them lying:
... In cross-examination the Swedish lawyer confirmed that paragraph 13 of his proof of evidence is is wrong. The last five lines of paragraph 13 of his proof read: “in the following days <after 15th September> I telephoned <Ms Ny> a number of times to ask whether we could arrange a time for Mr Assange’s interview but was never given an answer, leaving me with the impression that they may close the rape case without even bothering to interview him. On 27th September 2010, Mr Assange left Sweden.” He agreed that this was wrong. Ms Ny did contact him. A specific suggestion was put to him that on 22nd September he sent a text to the prosecutors saying “I have not talked to my client since I talked to you”. He checked his mobile phone and at first said he did not have the message as he does not keep them that far back. He was encouraged to check his inbox, and there was an adjournment for that purpose. He then confirmed that on 22nd September 2010 at 16.46 he has a message from Ms Ny saying: “Hello – it is possible to have an interview Tuesday”. Next there was a message saying: “Thanks for letting me know. We will pursue Tuesday 28th at 1700”. He then accepted that there must have been a text from him. “You can interpret these text messages as saying that we had a phone call, but I can’t say if it was on 21st or 22nd”. He conceded that it is possible that Ms Ny told him on the 21st that she wanted to interview his client. She requested a date as soon as possible. He agrees that the following day, 22nd, she contacted him at least twice.
Then he was then cross-examined about his attempts to contact his client. To have the full flavour it may be necessary to consider the transcript in full. In summary the lawyer was unable to tell me what attempts he made to contact his client, and whether he definitely left a message. It was put that he had a professional duty to tell his client of the risk of detention. He did not appear to accept that the risk was substantial or the need to contact his client was urgent. He said “I don’t think I left a message warning him” (about the possibility of arrest). He referred to receiving a text from Ms Ny at 09.11 on 27th September, the day his client left Sweden. He had earlier said he had seen a baggage ticket that Mr Assange had taken a plane that day, but was unable to help me with the time of the flight ...
Mr Hurtig was asked why he told Brita Sundberg-Wietman that Ms Ny had made no effort to interview his client. He denied saying that and said he has never met her. He agrees that he gave information to Mr Alhem. He agrees that where he had said in his statement (paragraph 51) that “I found it astonishing that Ms Ny, having allowed five weeks to elapse before she sought out interview”, then that is wrong ...
In re-examination he confirmed that he did not know Mr Assange was leaving Sweden on 27th September and first learned he was abroad on 29th. He agreed that the mistakes he had made in his proof were embarrassing and that shouldn’t have happened. He also agreed that it is important that what he says is right and important for his client that his evidence is credible.
The witness had to leave to catch a flight. Miss Montgomery said that there were further challenges she could make to his evidence, but thought it unnecessary in the circumstances. That was accepted by the court after no point was taken by Mr Robertson. The witness was clearly uncomfortable and anxious to leave ...
City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Sitting at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court)
The judicial authority in Sweden -v- Julian Paul Assange
Findings of facts and reasons
"... There was at one stage a suggestion that Mr Assange could be extradited to the USA
... There was at one stage a suggestion that Mr Assange could be extradited to the USA (possibly to Guantanamo Bay or to execution as a traitor). The only live evidence on the point came from the defence witness Mr Alhem who said it couldn’t happen. In the absence of any evidence that Mr Assange risks torture or execution Mr Robertson was right not to pursue this point in closing. It may be worth adding that I do not know if Sweden has an extradition treaty with the United States of America. There has been no evidence regarding this. I would expect that there is such a treaty. If Mr Assange is surrendered to Sweden and a request is made to Sweden for his extradition to the United States of America, then article 28 of the framework decision applies. In such an event the consent of the Secretary of State in this country will be required, in accordance with section 58 of the Extradition Act 2003, before Sweden can order Mr Assange’s extradition to a third State. The Secretary of State is required to give notice to Mr Assange unless it is impracticable to do so. Mr Assange would have the protection of the courts in Sweden and, as the Secretary of State’s decision can be reviewed, he would have the protection of the English courts also. But none of this was argued ..."
City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Sitting at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court)
The judicial authority in Sweden -v- Julian Paul Assange
Findings of facts and reasons
If Assange had wanted to argue that in court, he was free to do so. He did not -- because the theory is so ridiculous that one of his own specialist witnesses testified against the possibility
"... David Coombs, a lawyer for Pfc. Bradley Manning, ... said Manning was confined in such a way
to prevent anything bad from happening to him ..."
Lawyers in WikiLeaks Case Argue Over Email Access
By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
FORT MEADE, Md. August 28, 2012 (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-soldiers-wikileaks-case-back-military-court-17093558
The Assange defense lied about that in UK court, and the UK court caught them lying:
... In cross-examination the Swedish lawyer confirmed that paragraph 13 of his proof of evidence is is wrong. The last five lines of paragraph 13 of his proof read: “in the following days <after 15th September> I telephoned <Ms Ny> a number of times to ask whether we could arrange a time for Mr Assange’s interview but was never given an answer, leaving me with the impression that they may close the rape case without even bothering to interview him. On 27th September 2010, Mr Assange left Sweden.” He agreed that this was wrong. Ms Ny did contact him. A specific suggestion was put to him that on 22nd September he sent a text to the prosecutors saying “I have not talked to my client since I talked to you”. He checked his mobile phone and at first said he did not have the message as he does not keep them that far back. He was encouraged to check his inbox, and there was an adjournment for that purpose. He then confirmed that on 22nd September 2010 at 16.46 he has a message from Ms Ny saying: “Hello – it is possible to have an interview Tuesday”. Next there was a message saying: “Thanks for letting me know. We will pursue Tuesday 28th at 1700”. He then accepted that there must have been a text from him. “You can interpret these text messages as saying that we had a phone call, but I can’t say if it was on 21st or 22nd”. He conceded that it is possible that Ms Ny told him on the 21st that she wanted to interview his client. She requested a date as soon as possible. He agrees that the following day, 22nd, she contacted him at least twice.Then he was then cross-examined about his attempts to contact his client. To have the full flavour it may be necessary to consider the transcript in full. In summary the lawyer was unable to tell me what attempts he made to contact his client, and whether he definitely left a message. It was put that he had a professional duty to tell his client of the risk of detention. He did not appear to accept that the risk was substantial or the need to contact his client was urgent. He said “I don’t think I left a message warning him” (about the possibility of arrest). He referred to receiving a text from Ms Ny at 09.11 on 27th September, the day his client left Sweden. He had earlier said he had seen a baggage ticket that Mr Assange had taken a plane that day, but was unable to help me with the time of the flight ...
Mr Hurtig was asked why he told Brita Sundberg-Wietman that Ms Ny had made no effort to interview his client. He denied saying that and said he has never met her. He agrees that he gave information to Mr Alhem. He agrees that where he had said in his statement (paragraph 51) that “I found it astonishing that Ms Ny, having allowed five weeks to elapse before she sought out interview”, then that is wrong ...
In re-examination he confirmed that he did not know Mr Assange was leaving Sweden on 27th September and first learned he was abroad on 29th. He agreed that the mistakes he had made in his proof were embarrassing and that shouldn’t have happened. He also agreed that it is important that what he says is right and important for his client that his evidence is credible.
The witness had to leave to catch a flight. Miss Montgomery said that there were further challenges she could make to his evidence, but thought it unnecessary in the circumstances. That was accepted by the court after no point was taken by Mr Robertson. The witness was clearly uncomfortable and anxious to leave ...
City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court (Sitting at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court)
The judicial authority in Sweden -v- Julian Paul Assange
Findings of facts and reasons
"... In the Swedish system formal indictment takes place at a very late stage in proceedings,
following a second and final interview with the suspect, and in the case of a person in pre-trial detention, trial must follow within two weeks. (As Assange is very unlikely to get bail again, for obvious reasons, it must be assumed that this would apply in his case).
However, the High Court has held that Assange does stand accused of the four offences (including rape) for which his extradition is sought. It is a requirement of the Extradition Act 2003 that the warrant contains a statement that the person in respect of whom extradition is sought stand "accused" of the offence(s) set out in the warrant. There is no doubt that the European Arrest Warrant issued in Sweden did contain such a statement.
Assange sought to argue, first in the Magistrates Court, then in the High Court, that it is not enough that the statement is made, but the statement must also be true; and that he has not in fact been accused of any offence in Sweden because he had not been formally charged and so criminal proceedings had not yet commenced. He lost that argument ..."
Why doesn't Sweden interview Assange in London?
http://storify.com/anyapalmer/why-doesn-t-sweden-interview-assange-in-london?utm_campaign=&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&awesm=sfy.co_e56c&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_source=t.co
A rare photo from the Swedish gulag
A new "open" prison near Kolmarden has no fences, and room doors are locked by the prisoners themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/03/20/international/20stockholmCA01ready.html
hattip:
The Pirate Bay’s Founders Are Going to a Prison That’s Better than Your Life
http://gizmodo.com/5881212/the-pirate-bays-founders-are-going-to-nice-prison
Argentina's ambassador to the UK badly needs a history lesson
Alicia Castro hit the news this week with her comments: she said the UK was exhibiting precisely the same arrogance in the Assange affair that it had exhibited in the 1982 Falkland-Malvinas war
No one will fault the ambassador for her nationalism: surely she is proud of her country and is in London to serve its interests. And many see the Falklands-Malvinas war as a sad waste of 900 lives. We might quibble idly about whether archipelago was or was not within Argentine territorial waters, or whether the British Isles had really controlled the territory since 1833, or whether the inhabitants of Stanley considered themselves Her Majesty's subjects. Those of us who disliked Maggie Thatcher's reign, of course, easily consider pinning the entire unnecessary fiasco on her, for she was so proud of it. But there is much a larger back story here -- and other issues
Argentina endured seven years of military dictatorship after Videla's 1976 coup replaced Isabel Perón. It was not a happy time, and Argentina has labored long and hard to face it squarely. The Dirty War involved murdering activists by the thousands across the entire region. Some were tortured before being dumped into the Atlantic from aircraft. The fate of thousands is still unknown. Children, orphaned by the murder of their parents, were stolen from their remaining families and adopted to hide their true histories
Argentina's military, unsurprisingly, used nationalistic posturing to win support. They had scarcely come to power when they set out to provoke a conflict with the UK, by building an outpost in the Sandwich Islands. In the following years, the UK attempted to resolve the matter by diplomacy. In 1977, when the World Court ruled against Argentina, assigning the Beagle Channel islands to Chile, the junta denounced the ruling and began planning a military operation, which was prevented by further international mediation efforts. Ultimately, the Pope's intervention nominally settled the Beagle Channel islands dispute
So when Argentine troops landed in the Falklands-Malvinas, ill-will was available in whole-sale quantities. Recent history did not suggest to the UK that there were good prospects for diplomacy with Argentina. And recent history suggested to the Chileans that the Falklands-Malvinas operation was merely an exercise preparatory towards an invasion of Chile. So the UK cut a deal with Pinochet and (much to the surprise of Argentina's dictator) took back the Falklands-Malvinas and the Sandwich Islands
On the home front, people had become thoroughly sick of the junta -- and the defeat in the Falklands-Malvinas war showed that the junta was not invincible. Losing all political support, the junta was forced to accept a restoration of democracy
Alicia Castro may not have fond memories of the Falklands-Malvinas war. But Argentina's loss really was a good thing for Argentina
Castro: "El caso Assange demuestra la arrogancia del Reino Unido"
La embajadora argentina afirmó que no le sorprende la actitud del gobierno inglés en la sede diplomática ecuatoriana en Londres.
28.08.2012 | 13:06
La embajadora ante el Reino Unido afirmó que no le sorprende la actitud del gobierno inglés respecto al asilo de Julian Assange en la embajada de Ecuador en Londres, porque “se parece” al proceder con la Argentina en relación a las Malvinas.
“Para nosotros, para los argentinos, este hecho, que demuestra la arrogancia de la diplomacia británica, no nos sorprende” porque “se parece a las declaraciones respecto de la cuestión Malvinas con las cuales el Reino Unido también desatiende la legislación internacional”, afirmó Castro ...
Castro: "The Assange matter shows the arrogance of the United Kingdom"
Argentina's ambassador said she is not surprised at the attitude of the British government towards the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
28.08.2012 | 13:06
The ambassador to the UK said she is not surprised at the British government's attitude regarding Julian Assange's asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador in London, because it looks to Argentina just like the UK's attitude towards Falklands.
"For us, the Argentinians, this fact shows the arrogance of British diplomacy, not surprising because it resembles statements regarding the Malvinas issue, in which the UK also disregards international law," said Castro ...
http://www.perfil.com/contenidos/2012/08/28/noticia_0018.html
Kissinger backed dirty war against left in Argentina
Transcripts show former secretary of state urged violent crackdown on opposition
Julian Borger in Washington and Uki Goni in Buenos Aires
The Guardian, Friday 27 August 2004 21.33 EDT
... The Argentine junta formed a secret pact in 1976 known as the Condor Plan with other South American dictatorships in Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil for the eradication of "terrorists" ...
"The newly-revealed documents prove that as early as June 1976 Kissinger was informed of the existence of the Condor Plan," said Horacio Verbitsky, head of the Argentine human rights group Cels in Buenos Aires.
Mr Verbitsky, who during the 1970s ran an underground news service, said Mr Kissinger made it difficult for the US embassy in Buenos Aires to pressure Argentina's generals on human rights violations. "When US ambassador Robert Hill met with the generals to demand an end to the violence, the generals could say, your boss Kissinger knows what's happening and he doesn't care," he said ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/aug/28/argentina.julianborger
Kissinger approved Argentinian 'dirty war'
Declassified US files expose 1970s backing for junta
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles
The Guardian, Friday 5 December 2003 21.20 EST
... The revelations are likely to further damage Mr Kissinger's reputation. He has already been implicated in war crimes committed during his term in office, notably in connection with the 1973 Chilean coup.
The material, obtained by the Washington-based National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act, consists of two memorandums of conversations that took place in October 1976 with the visiting Argentinian foreign minister, Admiral César Augusto Guzzetti. At the time the US Congress, concerned about allegations of widespread human rights abuses, was poised to approve sanctions against the military regime.
According to a verbatim transcript of a meeting on October 7 1976, Mr Kissinger reassured the foreign minister that he had US backing in whatever he did ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/dec/06/argentina.usa
Kissinger to Argentines on Dirty War: "The quicker you succeed the better"
Washington, D.C., 4 December 2003 - Newly declassified State Department documents obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act show that in October 1976, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and high ranking U.S. officials gave their full support to the Argentine military junta and urged them to hurry up and finish the "dirty war" before the U.S. Congress cut military aid. A post-junta truth commission found that the Argentine military had "disappeared" at least 10,000 Argentines in the so-called "dirty war" against "subversion" and "terrorists" between 1976 and 1983; human rights groups in Argentina put the number at closer to 30,000 ...
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB104/index.htm
Pilot arrested over Argentina 'death flights'
Juan Alberto Poch, a budget airline pilot, is accused of flying planes from which junta threw opponents into sea
Giles Tremlett, Valencia
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 September 2009 10.00 EDT
...Juan Alberto Poch, 57, was arrested on Monday at the controls of a Dutch holiday jet he was about to fly from Valencia to Amsterdam.
Poch is wanted by the courts in Argentina to answer allegations that he flew navy aircraft on the death flights between 1976 and 1983 ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/23/death-flights-pilot-arrest-argentina
'Death flights' suspect returned to Argentina
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 29, 2010 10:10 a.m. EDT
... Former Argentine Navy Lt. Julio Alberto Poch was arrested last year on charges that he was at the helm of aircraft from which 950 drugged and blindfolded prisoners were thrown alive during the 1976-83 right-wing dictatorship. Poch, a commercial pilot for the Dutch airline Transavia.com, was arrested September 23 when his flight made a stopover in Valencia.
He was wanted on an international arrest warrant and was returned to Argentina on Thursday ...
The prisoners included students, labor leaders, intellectuals and leftists who had run foul of the dictatorship because of their political views. Most were dragged off the street or otherwise summarily arrested and held without trial in secret prisons where many were tortured.
Another pilot, former Navy Capt. Emir Sisul Hess, was also arrested last year on similar charges. Sisul Hess, accused in 56 deaths, was captured in the Argentine town of Bariloche, near the border with Chile ...
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/07/argentina.death.flight.pilot/index.html
Argentina makes arrests in 'flights of death' killings
1 May 2011 Last updated at 05:39 ET
Argentine authorities have arrested three former policemen ... accused of being the crew when French nun Leonie Duquet and rights activist Azucena Villaflor were thrown from a plane in 1977.
Their bodies washed ashore and were buried in an unmarked grave until their remains were identified in 2005 ...
A judge on Tuesday ordered the arrest of former police officers Enrique Jose De Saint Georges, Mario Daniel Arru and Alejandro Domingo D'Agostino.
A lawyer and a former navy officer were also detained in connection with the case ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13357301
Argentina's 'death flight' pilots to go on trial
AFP
Saturday, Aug 11, 2012
BUENOS AIRES - Pilots accused of flying "death flights" during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship will be tried for allegedly throwing live prisoners - including a nun - into the sea, the judiciary said Friday.
The defendants include former pilots Julio Poch and Enrique de Saint Georges as well as lawyer Gonzalo Torres de Tolosa, said the Judicial Information Center (ICJ) of the country's Supreme Court ...
The trial is part of an ongoing effort to investigate crimes against humanity committed at a notorious naval school.
The first hearings were conducted in 2011 and resulted in several life sentences ...
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20120811-364743.html
Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo
http://www.madres.org/navegar/nav.php
Muro de la Memoria
http://www.desaparecidos.org/arg/victimas/eng.html
Argentina: las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo recuperaron al nieto 106
07.08.12
Pablo Javier Gaona Miranda, de 34 años, conoció su verdadera identidad mediante un análisis realizado en el Banco Nacional de Datos Genéticos (BNDG).
Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo anunciaron la restitución de identidad de Pablo Javier Gaona Miranda, el nieto 106 recuperado - AFP
Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, organización humanitaria que se dedica a la búsqueda de hijos de desaparecidos robados durante la dictadura argentina (1976-1983), anunció este lunes a través de un comunicado de prensa la restitución de la identidad al nieto número 106 ...
Argentina: the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo identify their 106th grandson
07.08.12
Pablo Javier Gaona Miranda, 34 years old, learned his true identity with the help of an analysis using the National Genetic Data Bank (BNDG).
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the humanitarian organization dedicated to finding children of the disappeared who were stolen during Argentina's dictatorship (1976-1983), announced Monday in a press release the the recovery of the identity of grandson number 106 ...
http://observadorglobal.com/argentina-las-abuelas-de-plaza-de-mayo-recuperaron-al-nieto-106-n51452.html
Argentina's former dictator Jorge Videla given life sentence
Head of military junta that took power in 1976 convicted for deaths of 31 prisoners, in trial of several officials from regime
Associated Press in Buenos Aires
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 23 December 2010 06.15 EST
Former Argentinian dictator Jorge Videla has been sentenced to life in prison for the torture and murder of 31 prisoners, most of whom who were "shot while trying to escape" in the months after his military coup.
The conviction was Videla's first in 25 years for crimes against humanity, thrilling relatives who packed the courtroom, holding up grainy black-and-white pictures of the victims and shouting "murderers" at the defendants. Most of the two-dozen former military and police officials who were tried with Videla also received life sentences ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/23/argentina-dictator-jorge-videla-life
Jorge Rafael Videla convicted of baby thefts
Former Argentine dictator jailed for 50 years after executing a systematic plan to steal babies from leftist dissenters
Uki Goni in Buenos Aires
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 July 2012 02.09 EDT
Argentina took a giant leap forward in its struggle to come to terms with its bloody past during the 1976-83 dictatorship by condemning former dictator Jorge Videla to 50 years in prison for masterminding a plan for stealing the newborn children of political opponents and handing the babies over to be raised by "good" military families after killing their mothers.
The verdict on Thursday evening capped a 16-year trial during which hundreds of hours of testimony were heard proving that the kidnappings were not just collateral damage in the "civil war" between the military and leftwing guerrillas, as supporters of the dictatorship have claimed, but rather a deliberate policy put in place by the top leaders of the regime.
"The kidnapping of newly born babies is the last crime that former members of the military regime are willing to admit," says British journalist Robert Cox, who was one of the main witnesses at the trial last year. As editor of the small English-community daily Buenos Aires Herald in the late 1970s, Cox was one of the only journalists in Argentina who dared report on the crimes committed by the military as they happened, including their kidnapping of infants. "It's like the Nazis, what they did was so terrible they could never admit it," Cox said in Buenos Aires upon hearing the verdict that his testimony helped bring about ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/05/jorge-rafael-videla-convicted-baby-thefts
Argentina's 'Blond angel of death' convicted for role in dirty war
Alfredo Astiz, known as the 'blond angel of death,' served as a lieutenant at a torture center where thousands of dissidents were secretly imprisoned and executed during Argentina's dirty war from 1976-1983.
By Sam Ferguson, Correspondent
October 27, 2011
... Alfredo Astiz, known as the “blond angel of death,” served as a lieutenant at the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), a torture center where thousands of guerrillas and dissidents were secretly imprisoned and executed. He and 17 other defendants were charged with various cases of kidnapping, torture, and murder relating to 86 victims ...
The charges against Astiz centered on his role in infiltrating, kidnapping, and executing 12 human rights activists in 1977.
Beginning in middle of that year, Astiz began marching with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of women who congregated in Buenos Aires’ central square to protest the disappearance of their children. The Mothers knew him as Gustavo Niño, a young, handsome, well-spoken man who was desperately seeking his missing brother.
When Astiz suspected that his cover had been compromised, he helped organize a series of raids around Buenos Aires in December of 1977. Twelve people were kidnapped, including three founding members of the Mothers and two French missionary nuns, Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet. Several were tortured in the Naval Mechanics School, and within days the 12 activists were loaded onto navy airplanes and thrown into the South Atlantic ...
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/1027/Argentina-s-Blond-angel-of-death-convicted-for-role-in-dirty-war
Former Argentine Gen Eduardo Cabanillas jailed
31 March 2011 Last updated at 21:08 ET
Former Argentine Gen Eduardo Cabanillas has been sentenced to life in prison for running a notorious detention centre during military rule in 1976-83.
Three former intelligence officers were also convicted of murder, torture and illegal imprisonment.
Around 200 left-wing activists were kidnapped and taken to the Automotores Orletti secret prison in Buenos Aires.
Most of the victims were Uruguayan, but there were also Chileans, Bolivians, Peruvians and Cubans ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12929267
Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina Dictator, Guilty Of Torture In Hospital
By MICHAEL WARREN 12/29/11 01:29 PM ET
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's last dictator was convicted Thursday of more crimes against humanity, this time getting 15 years in prison for setting up a secret torture center inside a hospital during the 1976 military coup.
Reynaldo Bignone personally oversaw the takeover of the Posadas de Haedo hospital in Buenos Aires province 35 years ago, leading soldiers in tanks and helicopters in search of medical personnel who allegedly treated leftist guerrillas. The military dismissed all the doctors and nurses, but kept some for questioning, including the hospital's medical director. Eleven hospital staffers disappeared.
Bignone's trial involved 21 cases of kidnappings and tortures, including two victims who were killed and made to disappear by a civilian group of thugs who called themselves the "SWAT" team and answered to the air force. The SWAT team set up shop inside the medical director's home, interrogating the staff ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/reynaldo-bignone-argentina-hospital-torture_n_1174753.html
Corbeta Uruguay base
Corbeta Uruguay base was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on the island of Thule, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. The base was established by order of the then-military junta governing Argentina as a way to back up its territorial claims on British territory in the South Atlantic. Britain discovered the base in December 1976 but sought a diplomatic solution to the issue until 1982 ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbeta_Uruguay_base
Beagle conflict
In 1971 Chile and Argentina signed an agreement formally submitting the Beagle Channel issue to binding arbitration ... The court that was to decide the controversy was composed of five judges selected by Chile and Argentina from the International Court of Justice at The Hague ... On May 2, 1977 the court ruled that the islands and all adjacent formations belonged to Chile ... On 25 January 1978 Argentina rejected the ruling, and attempted via military force to challenge the Chilean commitment to defend the territory, and to coerce Chile into negotiating a division of the islands that would produce a maritime boundary consistent with Argentine claims ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_conflict#Beagle_Channel_Arbitration_1971-1977
Anniversary of papal action that stopped Argentina-Chile war
Sunday, November 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Brazilian cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer will represent Pope Benedict XVI in the ceremony honouring the 30th anniversary of the Vatican's mediation between Chile and Argentina which avoided a full fledged war over the Beagle channel and adjoining islands in the extreme south of the continent ...
The papal mediation in late 1978 and personal pleading to the then two military dictators, Generals Jorge Videla and Augusto Pinochet avoided a full fledged conflict between Argentina and Chile over the Beagle Channel. The dispute involved three minor islands and the Beagle channel which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the Magellan strait, extreme south of the South American continent. Following John Paul II personal intervention both military regimes agreed to begin negotiations with the signing in Uruguay, in January 1979 of the Montevideo Declaration which was to be the cornerstone for the peace and friendship agreement ...
http://en.mercopress.com/2008/11/30/anniversary-of-papal-action-that-stopped-argentina-chile-war
“We were prepared for war with Chile”, not in Malvinas admits former Argentine military governor
The former military governor of the Malvinas Islands during the Argentine occupation said that the negative outcome of the war for Argentina can only be attributed to “negligence and improvisation”.
Thursday, April 5th 2012 - 22:51 UTC
... In a long interview with an Argentine television channel, General Mario Benjamin Menendez admitted Argentina was not prepared “for a war in the Islands, but rather for war with Chile”.
General Menendez was named military governor of the Malvinas Islands a day after the Argentine invasion on 2 April and officially took the post three days later ...
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/04/05/we-were-prepared-for-war-with-chile-not-in-malvinas-admits-former-argentine-military-governor
Memorandum for Lady Thatcher on Chile’s support during Falklands’ conflict
Thursday, April 5th 2012 - 14:29 UTC
It is a well known and admitted fact that the Chilean regime of General Augusto Pinochet provided very useful intelligence to the British effort to recover the occupied Falkland Islands in 1982.
Now a memorandum on the story of those contacts written by then General Fernando Matthei Auble Chilean Air Force commander has surfaced ...
The memorandum was prepared for Lady Thatcher in 1999 when Pinochet was arrested and placed under house arrest in London
What motivated Piñera to make public the document was that in a November 2009 interview with Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo, former member of the Argentine Junta that invaded the Falklands and commander of the Air Force, revealed that had Argentina succeeded in retaining the Falklands, afterwards they would attack Chile ...
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/04/05/memorandum-for-lady-thatcher-on-chile-s-support-during-falklands-conflict
Chile 'helped UK over Falklands'
Last Updated: Saturday, 25 June, 2005, 14:29 GMT 15:29 UK
... The book, The Official History of the Falklands War, details the deal between the governments of Margaret Thatcher and General Augusto Pinochet, said the BBC's Chilean correspondent Clinton Porteous.
Extracts from it claim "the Chilean military provided key information on the movement of Argentine forces and other assistance, and in return were offered a cut-price deal on the purchase of military aircraft" ...
Chile was officially neutral during the conflict, but the book claims it considered a border offensive against Argentina to draw military forces away from The Falklands.
Argentina and Chile both had military governments at the time and were "close to war", the BBC correspondent said ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4622565.stm
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