Earlier this week in an Argentinean criminal court, Alfredo Ignacio Astiz, nicknamed the ‘Blonde Angel of Death’ for his famed good looks, was handed a life sentence for his part in the “dirty war”, the darkest period in the history of Argentina. Astiz was found guilty of crimes against humanity, torture, kidnapping and the facilitation of forced disappearances. The trial of Astiz brought to an end a 22-month trial which saw four of the accused handed 18-25 year sentences and 12 defendants sentenced to a term of life imprisonment.
The “dirty war” refers to the period of between 1976 and 1983 during which a military junta led by Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone ruled Argentina. The military government came to power following the coup d’etat which saw the overthrow of Isabel Peron. During their rule, human rights groups estimate that about 30,000 people were killed or made to disappear by death squads in the government’s campaign to suppress dissent by opponents of the regime in the 70s and 80s. Astiz was also said to have been charged with responsibility for operating the torture centre, Escuela de Mecanica de la Armada or the Naval Mechanical School (ESMA) where political opponents of the government were imprisoned, tortured and in many cases killed.
Human Rights groups have also estimated that only about 200 people survived out of the 5000 prisoners held in ESMA. The most unsavoury methods of suppression employed by the government at the time included stealing babies from pregnant prisoners and giving them up for adoption to families who were supporters of the government, executing the biological mothers of these babies, executing dissidents by firing squads and throwing opponents into the Atlantic Ocean or the River Plate.
Until 2005, survivors and families of victims of the “dirty war” were denied justice as a result of an amnesty law adopted in 1987 to prevent a military rebellion after a return to civilian rule in 1983. However, the Argentinean Supreme Court reversed this in 2005 by repealing the amnesty following the recommendation of Nestor Kirchner, the former Head of State and late husband of the current President Cristina Fernandez. Since the revocation of the amnesty, several members of the top brass of the junta have been tried for abuse committed during that period. Former military Presidents Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone were handed two life sentences and a 25 year sentence respectively for their roles in the atrocities.
The bringing to justice of the likes of Astiz and Videla would have been almost impossible to achieve without the unwavering determination of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo who have steadfastly campaigned in search of justice on behalf of their relatives for over three decades. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo comprise a group of Argentine women human rights activists who are seeking reunification with their sons and daughters who were abducted by the military during their rule. The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo was founded in 1977 with the aim of locating stolen babies whose mothers were subsequently killed by the government in order to return them to their biological families.
The convictions of Astiz and his counterparts are significant as it sends an important message to dictators who have presided over regimes with appalling human rights credentials. This message being that whilst justice might be delayed by the exile of these individuals in safe havens, or the imposition of amnesty laws, justice eventually catches up with offenders as Astiz and Videla have discovered in Argentina and as Charles Taylor is currently finding out at his trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The outcome of the Argentinean prosecutions will not have escaped the attention of the Burmese, Zimbabwean and Syrian regimes who have also utilised measures favoured by Astiz and Co in order to suppress the peaceful voices of protests in their respective countries.
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