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Italy: Life sentence for Argentinian generals

01 November 2000

Generals Carlos Suarez Mason and Santiago Omar Riveros, commanders of Military Zones 1 and 4 following the 1976 coup in Argentina by generals Videla, Agosti and Massera, received life sentences for the murder of five Italian-Argentinian citizens and the kidnapping of a boy. The second court of assizes in Rome also sentenced naval prefect Juan Gerardi, and junior officers Roberto Rossin, Hector Maldonado, Jose Luis Porchetto and Alejandro Puertas to 24 years for the death and disappearance of another Italian citizen. It is a ground-breaking trial because amnesty laws in Argentina guarantee impunity for crimes committed during the junta's regime, including the disappearance of 30,000 left-wing youths. It is also the first time that members of the Argentine armed forces have been sentenced abroad for such crimes. Nonetheless, it is unlikely that they will serve their sentences, as these were passed in an in absentia trial, although Italy will request their extradition. The prosecuting magistrate, Francesco Caporale, spoke of how the military junta divided the country into five zones, whose commanders had the power "of life and death" over its inhabitants. He alleges that they were involved in the "national reorganisation process" which involved the abduction, torture and murder of left-wing sympathizers.

Repubblica 7.12.00