Via the BBC: Argentine chiefs jailed for life
Two of the worst oppressors during Argentina’s military rule – known as the Dirty War – have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Antonio Bussi, 82, and Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, were sent to prison for the kidnapping and disappearance of a former senator in April 1976.
The two generals were senior members of the military government that ruled the country during the 1970s and 1980s.
During that time tens of thousands of people were tortured and killed.
[...]
Menendez was sentenced to prison earlier this month on another human rights case and there are more charges outstanding against the two men – both now in their eighties.
They were found guilty of responsibility for the disappearance in April 1976 of the former senator, Guillermo Vargas Aignasse.
The military regime that came to power in mid-1970s was one of the most brutal in the history of Latin America. It lasted until 1983 the debacle that was the attempt by the military regime to retake the Malvinas (i.e., the Falkland Islands) as a means of distracting the population from the economic disaster that was unfolding at the time.
After an initial attempt to bring members of the military regime to justice, much of the process stalled.
It took 32 years to bring Bussi and Menendez to trial – the cases against the perpetrators of the darkest period in Argentine history only resumed a couple of years ago.
August 29th, 2024 at 1:46 pm
Better late than never?
August 29th, 2024 at 6:27 pm
Indeed.