Human rights organizations held a meeting with the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances where we warned about this government’s regressive speech and measures against the policies of memory, truth and justice.
CELS and Memoria Abierta have prepared a new special report where we offer five highlights of the argentine government decision to re-legitimitate of state terrorism.
The policy of memory, truth, and justice is affected by a combination of general budget cuts and the defunding and/or hollowing out of structures and denialism positions regarding crimes against humanity committed by the Armed Forces during the last dictatorship.
Criminal Cassation Court II reviewed a ruling from 2017 that had overlooked the complaints brought by Graciela García Romero, abducted and held in that clandestine detention center. The court subsequently convicted Jorge “Tigre” Acosta for the sexual abuse inflicted upon her. CELS has stood by Graciela’s pursuit of justice since 2005.
The fourth trial for crimes against humanity committed in the clandestine detention and torture center that operated in the Villa Insuperable district in La Matanza, province of Buenos Aires, came to an end.
The Second Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals convicted Jorge “Tigre” Acosta for the sexual crimes committed against Graciela García Romero, who was kidnapped and held captive at the clandestine detention center known as ESMA. An earlier 2017 ruling had not taken into account her allegations. The Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) had supported Graciela’s pursuit of justice since 2005.
On November 25, the fourth stage of the trial began for crimes against humanity committed at the clandestine detention and torture center that operated out of the Villa Insuperable sub-station, Buenos Aires Province.
In a landmark ruling, a Miami court found Roberto Bravo guilty of the shootings of Eduardo Capello, Rubén Bonet, and Ana María Villarreal de Santucho and the attempted extrajudicial execution of Alberto Camps in August 1972. The sentence in the civil trial orders Bravo to pay USD 24 million in damages to the four plaintiff families. CELS assisted with the litigation process and accompanied the victims’ families.
On the last hearing, plaintiffs’ counsel and the defense presented their arguments. After 2.5 hours of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict finding Mr. Bravo liable on all charges and awarding $24.25 million in total damages.
In this fourth hearing, a forensic physicist, a conscript and Raquel Camps, daughter of Alberto Camps, victim of the massacre, testified.
Defendant Bravo resumed the stand for hours of questioning by his counsel, recalling that he began working at Almirante Zar Naval Base in January 1972. On August 15, 1972, the day of the Rawson Prison break, while on vacation with his family in Buenos Aires Mr. Bravo got a phone call ordering him back to base.
The day concluded with the Defendant, Mr. Bravo, taking the stand for several hours. Certain details of Mr. Bravo’s testimony were not consistent with his prior sworn statements about the events at Trelew, including what soldiers were present, who opened the cell doors, how many shots were allegedly fired by a prisoner, and the position of each solider when the shooting commenced.
The Florida State University College of Law International Human Rights Clinic monitored the trial of former Argentine naval officer, Defendant Roberto Guillermo Bravo, represented by Neal R. Sonnett, P.A. and Haber Law P.A., beginning June 27, 2022, and provides this neutral report of trial events.
On June 27, the civil trial against Roberto Guillermo Bravo for his alleged responsibility in the executions will begin in Florida, United States.
Carmen Cobo, Mother and Grandmother of Plaza de Mayo, passed away at the age of 96. She was one of the Mothers to whom we offered support and affection through the Voluntary Accompaniment Network. We will follow her on the path of tireless struggle for memory, truth and justice.
Four of the victims’ families seek justice against Roberto Guillermo Bravo, who has avoided accountability for his alleged role in the Argentine massacre.
Upon the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of Brazil’s refusal to extradite the ESMA repressor to Argentina, human rights organizations are urging the neighboring country to reconsider its sentence so that justice may be served in the country where the crimes were perpetrated.
Along with the Vladimir Herzog Institute and five other organizations, we denounced the Brazilian authorities for their declarations on the anniversary of the 1964 military coup to the Special Rapporteur of The United Nations on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
Together with Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and Memoria Abierta, we created this tool to search, read and investigate the files recently declassified by US intelligence agencies.
We condemn the coup d’état, political persecution and the violence committed by those who do not respect the democratic order in Bolivia. This rupture with the rule of law should prompt an immediate reaction by the region’s states. It is imperative that regional mechanisms and UN bodies initiate a dialogue with countries, in particular to ensure the right to asylum and refuge.
On November 11, a pleading hearing in the AMIA case took place at the 174th session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), held in Quito, Ecuador. The participants in the hearing included Diana Wassner de Malamud and Adriana Reisfeld, from the Memoria Activa association of family members of AMIA victims, as well as … Continued
Seven company workers who were kidnapped in the 1970s – six of whom remain disappeared – and whose cases are analyzed in this trial were labor activists and delegates to the internal trade-union commission at Mercedes-Benz. CELS is acting as a plaintiff in its capacity as a human rights organization.
A plant owned by the Argentine steelmaker housed both a clandestine detention center and a police outpost during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Company executives pointed out the workers who should be kidnapped and provided the military with photographs from their personal files so they could be identified.
After 15 years of judicial investigations and a year-long trial, a federal court in Argentina found two former heads of Ford’s plant in General Pacheco guilty of acting as direct participants in illegal detentions and torture during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. This is a milestone in the sanctioning of civilian responsibility in state terrorism.
The high court ruled on the case of Rufino Batalla, convicted to 13 years in prison for the kidnapping, torture and murder of Laura Carlotto and Olga Noemí Casado, and who had requested that the “2 for 1” sentence reduction provision be applied to his case. By determining it was inapplicable, the Supreme Court modified the criteria it had utilized in the Muiña ruling, which prompted widespread repudiation and led to the approval of a new law.
Sentenced to prison terms between eight years and life, the former police officers were convicted for the crimes they committed against six activists in the city of Rafaela, province of Santa Fe. Silva Suppo, a survivor of state terrorism, was killed in 2010.
Ana María and Roberto were abducted in Morón, a suburb of Buenos Aires, and taken to the clandestine detention center known as the Sheraton or Embudo. For the couple’s kidnapping and torture, we ask that the court sentence the four defendants to 25 years in prison. At the trial, CELS represents their daughters, Andrea, Paula and Albertina Carri.
The public prosecutor’s office will question sugar industry executives from the province of Tucumán about their collaboration with the crimes committed against 68 people. Eleven of the victims remain disappeared.
Human rights organizations repudiate this maneuver that conceals another attempt to benefit the repressors. The Federal Penitentiary Service, which reports to the national Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, sent a list of 1,111 detained persons who, due to their time spent in prison, qualify for parole or house arrest with electronic monitoring. The document included 96 people convicted of crimes against humanity.
After a trial lasting five years, the case known as ESMA III ended with 29 life imprisonment convictions, 19 sentences of between 8 and 25 years in prison, and 6 acquittals.
A federal appeals court overturned the convictions of businessman Marcos Levín and three police officers, disregarding the context of worker persecution that existed in the 1970s and was evident in the case of Levín’s company, La Veloz del Norte. It also failed to acknowledge civilian and corporate complicity with the dictatorship and questioned the numerous witnesses who told of Levín’s presence at the place where torture was carried out.
The crimes attributed to the nine defendants were proven over the course of the trial, according to plaintiffs. For the first time, information was brought to light regarding the “transfer”-murder of 14 people held captive in this circuit of clandestine detention centers.
More than 300 people were detained in the Automotores Orletti clandestine detention center, which functioned in a Buenos Aires mechanics’ shop in 1976. The majority were kidnapped as part of Operation Condor, a criminal conspiracy to persecute and disappear people across international borders.
Campaign by human rights organizations so that the Argentine Supreme Court issues a new ruling rolling back its decision that benefited perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
Today was the second and final hearing of the plaintiffs’ pleadings in the trial over crimes committed in the Orletti clandestine detention center. Two murders had never been brought to light during a trial before and, for the first time, these defendants are being held to account for their actions under state terrorism. We requested that three of them be sentenced to life in prison.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and the German Coalition against Impunity, together with Argentine human rights organizations, presented a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to the Parque de la Memoria.
Some half a million people took to the streets in Buenos Aires alone to reject a Supreme Court decision aimed at dramatically reducing prison terms for perpetrators of crimes against humanity during the last dictatorship.
The day after writing his “Open letter to the Military Junta,” Walsh was ambushed by ESMA agents.
Victorio Paulón, a metalworker and union leader who was detained during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship, discusses judicial reluctance to prosecute corporate responsibility for the crimes against humanity committed under state terrorism.
The court devotes little time to the hearings. In the final stage of the trial, unjustified motions for judges’ recusal are causing new delays. The past two years of the trial have been spent on the pleadings alone.
While the arrest gives a sense of satisfaction to the victims and society, the lawsuits investigating Milani for crimes against humanity have been notable for their delays. This decision should have been reached long ago.
Prosecution will continue over the crimes against humanity committed at Automotores Orletti, the clandestine detention center where many victims of Operation Condor were held illegally.
This is the third trial for the crimes against humanity committed in the “ABO” circuit of clandestine detention centers, which were used for two years starting in early 1977.
The existence of a formal system of repressive coordination between the dictatorships of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay was proven in court.
This publication analyzes Operation Condor’s particular characteristics and traces back the cases that, after 16 years, culminated in a verdict on May 27, 2016. In this trial, the voices of hundreds of witnesses were heard, contributing testimony regarding 172 victims of Operation Condor and Automotores Orletti, the most important clandestine detention center for the Operation’s victims in Argentina.
CELS, on behalf of the unified legal team representing plaintiffs, requested life in prison for 51 defendants and 10-to-25-year prison terms for four others, in the third trial over the crimes against humanity committed at the ESMA torture and detention center.
The report “Business responsibility in crimes against humanity: The repression of workers during state terrorism” presents evidence confirming that the owners, executives and managers of some companies actively participated in violating the human rights of workers during Argentina’s last dictatorship (1976-1983).
This work brings together the views of lawyers, researchers and human rights activists on different aspects related to the process of justice for crimes against humanity committed in the country during state terrorism.