Argentine justice sentenced, Friday, August 13, to more than 20 years in prison two former soldiers convicted of “Aggravated rapes” on three political prisoners in a torture center in Buenos Aires under the dictatorship (1976-83).
Former Commander Jorge “Tigre” Acosta, in charge of the clandestine detention center, was sentenced to 24 years in prison and former intelligence agent Alberto “Gato” González to 20 years after a trial which took place. ‘took place behind closed doors at the request of the victims. These sentences are in addition to the life imprisonment already handed down to the two torturers for other human rights violations.
Both were found guilty of “Aggravated rapes” committed in a group and repeated at least ten times, acts considered as crimes against humanity and therefore imprescriptible, judged separately from other crimes of torture and kidnapping.
Sex crimes prosecuted for 9 years
The case concerns crimes committed against three women between 1977 and 1978 at the School of Marine Mechanics (ESMA), which also housed a clandestine maternity hospital where thefts of newborn babies were organized.
“There are many comrades who, even today, cannot talk about what has been done to them, what has happened to them. Because they do not understand that if they had not submitted to it, they would have ended up as passengers of a “flight of death” “, said Miriam Lewin, one of the victims.
In Argentina, the Office of the Prosecutor for Crimes Against Humanity has been pursuing these sexual crimes committed during the dictatorship since 2012.
According to human rights organizations, some 30,000 people were victims of enforced disappearance during the Argentine dictatorship.