New convictions for crimes against humanity in Argentina

An Argentine court on Thursday sentenced former members of the Navy and the police to penalties of between six and 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed in the worst detention, torture and extermination center that operated during the last military dictatorship (1976 -1983).

It was the fourth trial for the atrocities committed at the old Navy Mechanics School, located in the Argentine capital, where it is estimated that at least 5,000 of the 30,000 disappeared from the regime were housed, according to figures from human rights organizations.

Due to the number of victims and defendants, the Argentine justice was forced to distribute the investigation of what happened there among different judges and for those responsible to be tried by different courts.

After two years of hearings, the oral criminal court No. 5 of Buenos Aires sentenced former police officer Raúl Cabral, former Navy officer Carlos Castellví and civilian Miguel Conde, who was a member of the intelligence group, to life imprisonment. that was dedicated to the kidnapping and torture of dissidents.

The sentence was announced in a virtual hearing for the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, former Navy NCOs Carlos Carrillo, José Iturri, Jorge Ocaranza and Ramón Zanabria received 15 years in prison.

Former conscript Claudio Vallejos, extradited from Brazil, was sentenced to six years in prison.

The eight were tried for the crimes of homicide, illegal deprivation of liberty, torture, sexual abuse and abduction of children against more than 800 victims.

After the 1976 coup, the Armed Forces implemented a systematic plan of detention, torture and murder not only against members of guerrilla groups but also their families, artists, journalists and intellectuals, considering them dangerous to the regime.

The Argentine State has recognized fewer than 10,000 missing persons.

The fourth trial by ESMA in August 2018. Two former marines also accused died during the process.

The federal court ruled that the condemned remain under the current detention modality (some at home, others in prison) until the sentence is final.