In March, these women in Buenos Aires commemorated the beginning of the dictatorship in Argentina in 1976.
(dpa) In Argentina, ten of those accused in a mega-trial for crimes against humanity during the last dictatorship (1976-83) have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Another nine ex-members of the army and other security forces were sentenced to between 4 and 22 years in prison, the Argentine news agency Telam reported on Wednesday (local time), citing a court in the greater Buenos Aires area.
According to this, crimes against more than 300 victims in the Campo de Mayo military garrison in a suburb of the capital were dealt with in more than 125 hearings. Human rights organizations estimate that up to 30,000 people “disappeared” and were killed by the military in the hunt for citizens whom they suspected of left-wing ideas. In her pleading, prosecutor Gabriela Sosti estimated that more than 6,000 people came to Campo de Mayo and the survival rate was less than one percent, according to Telam.
Among those sentenced to life imprisonment is an ex-general who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday because of the so-called death flights. During the “death flights”, members of the opposition, who were held captive in the notorious ESMA naval school in Buenos Aires and in Campo de Mayo, were drugged and thrown into the La Plata river from naval planes.
In the largest trial in Argentine history in 2017, a total of 48 former military personnel were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for human rights violations.