RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Dissatisfaction with Repeal of Amnesty Laws

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 25 1998 (IPS) - Human rights organisations in Argentina are dissatisfied with the lower chamber of parliament’s overturning of the amnesty laws that let members of the military implicated in rights violations off scot-free.

They protest that the repeal, which is non-retroactive, will not put an end to impunity.

Human rights activists and relatives of the victims of the 1976- 83 dictatorship were seeking a full annulment of the laws, which would allow a reopening of the cases closed by the amnesty laws. But the legislators rejected the proposed annulment.

The new, non-retroactive law overturning the amnesty will now go to the Senate, where it could be held up by resistance from sectors of the governing Justice Party.

The laws benefited officers like former captain Alfredo Astiz, who was tried for abduction, torture and homicide. Last January, Astiz vindicated the repression, and claimed to be the person in Argentina best prepared to kill a politician or journalist.

Others who benefited from the amnesty laws were retired general Antonio Bussi, the governor of the northwestern province of Tucuman, who was responsible for the disappearance of 600 people, and captain Alfredo Acosta, the former head of the Navy School of Mechanics, which functioned as a clandestine detention centre where more than 5,000 prisoners were tortured and “disappeared.”

On the evening of the 22nd anniversary of the coup, ruling party and opposition deputies voted to overturn the laws of “due obedience” and “punto final”. Once approved by the Senate, the new law will prevent former military repressors from being protected by the amnesty laws in the future.

While the lawmakers were voting Tuesday evening, around 15,000 protesters who had gathered outside Congress to repudiate the repression on the anniversary of the coup demanded the annulment of the laws, rather than a simple repeal. They also called for the annulment of President Carlos Menem’s pardon of the commanders of the regime.

“We will not accept a deceptive repeal that will not serve to imprison the genocidal murderers. Congress should effectively annul the laws, to make it possible to punish those responsible for the terrorism waged by the state,” a group of rights organisations stated in a document released Tuesday.

The amnesty laws were submitted by the executive branch and enacted by parliament in 1987, against a backdrop of military uprisings.

At that time, the former leaders of the de facto regime were in prison for human rights violations, and their subordinates were being prosecuted for abduction, torture, homicide and “disappearances.”

The law of “due obedience” let members of the military who were simply “following orders” off the hook, while the law of “punto final” set a 30-day deadline for the courts to close all cases against former repressors. Some 1,100 members of the military benefited from the two laws.

The heads of the military regime were later pardoned by President Menem, after serving five years in prison.

Last January, three lawmakers of the Solidarity Front – one of the two parties comprising the opposition Alliance – submitted a bill seeking annulment of the effects of the amnesty laws, to allow a reopening of the cases.

But the draft law, which had the support of human rights organisations, was voted down by ruling party legislators as well as members of the Alliance, Solidarity Front leaders and allies. The bill approved Tuesday was submitted in February.

Analysts say Menem might still make good on his threats to veto any law overturning the amnesty laws, even though the bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies is non-retroactive.

“This vote has a more testimonial than legal value,” admitted the Alliance’s Deputy Carlos Alvarez.

Most jurists agree that penal laws cannot be retroactive, especially if the new laws are more exacting. In other words, the members of the military who once faced prosecution but are enjoying their freedom today are not worried by the repeal of the amnesty laws.