RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Step Closer to Trying Military Officers at Home

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 29 2003 (IPS) - Argentine President Néstor Kirchner announced Friday that he had put his signature to parliament’s annulment of the amnesty laws that had protected military officers from trial for human rights crimes committed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

The matter is now in the hands of the Argentine Supreme Court, which is deliberating on the constitutionality of the amnesty laws.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government turned down a request Friday from its judiciary to issue extradition requests for 40 Argentines accused of perpetrating crimes against humanity during the dictatorship.

Kirchner said, "The possibility remains that the members of the military will be tried in Argentina," and stressed that his government want "to put an end to impunity."

The decision taken by Spain’s president, José María Aznar, caught Argentine justice authorities by surprise, and was received here with disappointment by human rights lawyers and families of the disappeared. They interpreted the rejection of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón’s extradition request as "interference by the executive branch in the judiciary."

But Spain’s vice-president, Mariano Rajoy, said the rejection was based "on Kirchner’s firm will to proceed with the prosecutions" of the accused in Argentina.

Furthermore, he said, the extradition treaty between the two countries recognises that if the courts in the country of the accused are competent to try the case themselves, it is motive for refusing to issue an extradition request.

Argentine federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral had ordered the arrest of the individuals sought by Spanish judge Garzón. All but three have been detained. The three are now considered fugitives from justice.

Canicoba said he is surprised by Aznar’s decision, but that he will order the release of the detainees when he receives official corroboration.

Among the military officers Garzón wanted to bring to trial in Spain are former dictatorship commanders Jorge Videla and Emilio Massera, who are serving sentences for other crimes committed during the military regime.

Argentine attorney Carlos Slepoy, who represents the plaintiffs in the case Garzón is pursuing in Madrid, said the Spanish government acted in line with that country’s national prosecutor’s office, which is against the extraditions. He suggested that the intention is "to paralyse or somehow intervene" in the matter.

"We feel defrauded by the Spanish government," said Consuelo Arellano, whose Spanish-nationality relative was "disappeared" by agents of the Argentine dictatorship. Arellano said the law gives the executive branch "the role of postal service only" in the extradition requests put forth by the judiciary.

"I wasn’t expecting this. Now, if there is no justice in Argentina, we have no future," said Dionisia López Amado, a Spanish citizen and mother of Antonio Díaz López, who was detained and disappeared by the Argentine dictatorship in 1976 at age 24 along with his wife.

In comments to IPS, López Amado described the Aznar government as "shameless".

But the resolution was received with cautious optimism by other human rights activists and by lawmakers, who see the Aznar government’s position as an important step forward for conducting the trials in Argentina.

"This is what we were looking for politically when we annulled the amnesty laws: to avoid extradition to Spain of Argentine citizens for crimes committed in Argentina," said Ricardo Falú, legislative deputy of the governing Justicialista (Peronist) Party, and chairman of the lower house’s impeachment committee.

The amnesty laws, known as "Full Stop" and "Due Obedience", were enacted in 1986 and 1987, respectively, such that the only ones held responsible for the dictatorship’s crimes were the commanders of the three branches of the armed forces. They were convicted after the dictatorship ended, but were later pardoned by president Carlos Menem (1989-1999).

Nevertheless, charges not covered by the pardon were brought against the former members of the dictatorship’s junta, and they are currently serving life-sentences.

Roberto Vallarino, parliamentary secretary of the United Left in the Chamber of Deputies, told IPS that the positions taken by Aznar and Kirchner "open up an important possibility" for advancing the human rights trials in Argentina.

But he acknowledged that "the fight will have to continue so that all areas of the judiciary are in agreement about the legality of reopening the cases" related to human rights crimes committed during the dictatorship.

It was Patricia Walsh, the only United Left lawmaker in the lower house, who presented the legislative bill to annul the two amnesty laws nearly two years ago.

Evel Petrini, representative of a group of families of the detained-disappeared, said, "It would be very interesting if (the decision of the Spanish government) allows the assassins to be tried in Argentina." But she admitted she has become sceptical since the failure of the human rights trials in the 1980s.

"We didn’t have high expectations for the extradition requests. God willing, now we can try all of them here, but not individually, as a group, for genocide. That way the whole world will know who the assassins were," said Petrini, whose son was disappeared by the agents of the dictatorship.

Kirchner announced Friday that he had signed the annulment of the amnesty laws Thursday, several days before the deadline for doing so.

"This is very important news. We’re very pleased with the courage the president is showing," commented Petrini.

Now the wait begins for the Federal Chamber, an appeals court, to determine whether to reopen the cases involving the military leaders for crimes committed during the dictatorship at two clandestine detention centres, the Navy Mechanic’s School and the army’s battalion 601.

Members of that court, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that with the official annulment of the amnesty laws, judges from lower courts would be asked to investigate the crimes committed at the two detention centres.

But Kirchner, lawmakers and members of the appeals court agree that the key to reopening the trials is in the hands of the Supreme Court, where a decision is pending on the constitutionality of the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws.