Juicio a las Juntas
Encyclopedia
The Trial of the Juntas (Spanish, Juicio a las Juntas) was the judicial trial of the members of the de facto military government that ruled Argentina
during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, which lasted from 1976 to 1983. Those on trial were:
. The main prosecutors were Julio César Strassera
and his assistant Luis Moreno Ocampo
. The trial was presided by a group of six judges: León Arslanián
, Jorge Torlasco, Ricardo Gil Lavedra
, Andrés D'Alessio, Jorge Valerga Aráoz, and Guillermo Ledesma.
The dictatorship was in fact a series of several military governments under four military junta
s. The fourth junta, before calling for elections and relinquishing power to the democratic authorities, enacted a Self-Amnesty Law on April 18, 1983, as well as a secret decree that dictated the destruction of much evidence of their past crimes.
); leading members of the Montoneros
and ERP
guerrilla groups were also ordered indicted and tried, leading to numerous sentences. The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, established on December 15, presented 8,960 cases of the disappeared to the president on September 20, 1984. Following the refusal of a military court to try former junta members, Alfonsín established a National Criminal Court of Appeals for the purpose on October 14, 1984.
. It was the first against a former dictatorship since the Nürnberg Trials, and the first to be conducted by a civilian court. It largely succeeded in proving the crimes of the juntas, which included forced disappearance
, torture
and murder
of thousands of people. Opposition to the trial was largely limited to critical commentary by politicians, lawyers, and media figures sympathetic to the dictatorship, though it would also become violent: during the sentencing phase of the trial, 29 bomb threats were received in several Buenos Aires schools and a number of bombs were detonated in key government installations, including the Ministry of Defense
. President Alfonsín declared a 60-day state of emergency
on October 25.
Prosecutors presented 709 cases, of which 280 were heard. A total of 833 witnesses testified during the cross-examination
phase that lasted until August 14, including former President Alejandro Lanusse, writer Jorge Luis Borges
, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
President Estela Barnes de Carlotto
, "Night of the Pencils
" survivor Pablo Díaz, Carter Administration Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights
Patricia M. Derian
, Dutch jurist Theo van Boven
, and renowned forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow
.
Closing arguments were heard on September 18, which chief prosecutor Strassera concluded by declaring that:
. General Roberto Viola: to 17 years in prison. Admiral Armando Lambruschini
: eight years. General Orlando Agosti
: four and a half years.
Omar Graffigna
, Leopoldo Galtieri
, Jorge Anaya
and Basilio Lami Dozo
were acquitted, though the latter three were concomitantly court martialed for malfeasance in waging the Falklands War
of 1982. Charges against 600 others were brought to court, but these lawsuits were hampered by the Full Stop Law of 1986, which limited suits to those indicted within 60 days of the law's enactment, and the Law of Due Obedience of 1987, which effectively halted most remaining trials of Dirty War perpetrators.
ed by President Carlos Menem
in 1989 and 1990. President Néstor Kirchner
obtained an Argentine Supreme Court ruling permitting extradition
s in cases of crimes against humanity in 2003, as well as a 2005 ruling that the 1986 and 1987 laws shielding those accused in the crimes from prosecution are unconstitutional. Consequently, and despite delays and ongoing threats against witnesses (including the disappearance of victim and witness Julio Jorge López
), over 600 hitherto immune defendants faced criminal proceedings by 2010. A total of 677 affidavits concerning civilians and servicemen killed in leftist terrorist acts were also filed.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, which lasted from 1976 to 1983. Those on trial were:
- Jorge Rafael VidelaJorge Rafael VidelaJorge Rafael Videla Redondo is a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
- Emilio Eduardo MasseraEmilio Eduardo MasseraEmilio Eduardo Massera was an Argentine military officer, and a leading participant in the Argentine coup d'état of 1976. In 1981, he was found to be a member of P2...
- Roberto Eduardo ViolaRoberto Eduardo ViolaRoberto Eduardo Viola Redondo was an Argentine military officer who briefly served as president of Argentina from March 29 to December 11, 1981 during a period of military rule.-President of Argentina:...
- Armando LambruschiniArmando LambruschiniArmando Lambruschini was an admiral in the Argentine Navy.-Life and career:He enrolled at the Argentine Naval School in 1942, and graduated as a midshipman in 1946...
- Orlando Ramón AgostiOrlando Ramon AgostiOrlando Ramón Agosti was an Argentine general. With General Jorge Rafael Videla, he ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1981...
- Omar GraffignaOmar GraffignaOmar Domingo Rubens Graffigna is a former Argentine Air Force officer who served in the second military junta of the National Reorganization Process dictatorship.-Life and times:...
- Leopoldo GaltieriLeopoldo GaltieriLeopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from December 22, 1981 to June 18, 1982, during the last military dictatorship . The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him...
- Jorge AnayaJorge AnayaAdmiral Jorge Isaac Anaya was a member of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires...
- Basilio Lami DozoBasilio Lami DozoBrigadier General Basilio Arturo Ignacio Lami Dozo was a member of the Argentine Air Force.He participated in the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganisation Process and, along with Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri and Jorge Isaac Anaya, was a member of the Third Military Junta that...
Overview
The Trial of the Juntas began on April 22, 1985, during the presidential administration of Raúl AlfonsínRaúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
. The main prosecutors were Julio César Strassera
Julio César Strassera
Julio César Strassera is an Argentine lawyer and jurist. He served as Chief Prosecutor during the historic 1985 Trial of the Juntas.-Early life:...
and his assistant Luis Moreno Ocampo
Luis Moreno Ocampo
José Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to distinguish Moreno as a surname, rather than a given name. is an Argentine lawyer who has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since June 16, 2003...
. The trial was presided by a group of six judges: León Arslanián
León Arslanián
León Arslanián is an Argentine lawyer, jurist and public official who notably served as Chief Justice in the tribunal that presided over the 1985 Trial of the Juntas.-Life and times:...
, Jorge Torlasco, Ricardo Gil Lavedra
Ricardo Gil Lavedra
-Life and times:Ricardo Rodolfo Gil Lavedra was born in Buenos Aires in 1949. He enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, and earned a juris doctor in 1972. He was named Secretary to the Supreme Court of the Province of Buenos Aires in 1973, and judge in the provincial Court of First...
, Andrés D'Alessio, Jorge Valerga Aráoz, and Guillermo Ledesma.
The dictatorship was in fact a series of several military governments under four military junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
s. The fourth junta, before calling for elections and relinquishing power to the democratic authorities, enacted a Self-Amnesty Law on April 18, 1983, as well as a secret decree that dictated the destruction of much evidence of their past crimes.
Preparation
Three days after his inauguration (December 13, 1983), President Alfonsín signed Decree No. 158, mandating the initiation of legal proceedings against the nine military officers of the first three junta, but not the fourth (ruled by General Reynaldo BignoneReynaldo Bignone
Reynaldo Benito Antonio Bignone is an Argentine general who served as dictatorial President of Argentina from July 1, 1982 to December 10, 1983. In 2010, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the kidnappings, torture, and murders of the Dirty War.-Early career:Reynaldo Benito...
); leading members of the Montoneros
Montoneros
Montoneros was an Argentine Peronist urban guerrilla group, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The name is an allusion to 19th century Argentinian history. After Juan Perón's return from 18 years of exile and the 1973 Ezeiza massacre, which marked the definitive split between left and right-wing...
and ERP
People's Revolutionary Army
People's Revolutionary Army may refer to:*People's Revolutionary Army *People's Revolutionary Army *People's Revolutionary Army *People's Revolutionary Army *People's Revolutionary Army See also:...
guerrilla groups were also ordered indicted and tried, leading to numerous sentences. The National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, established on December 15, presented 8,960 cases of the disappeared to the president on September 20, 1984. Following the refusal of a military court to try former junta members, Alfonsín established a National Criminal Court of Appeals for the purpose on October 14, 1984.
Trial
This trial, which officially began on April 22, 1985, is so far the only example of such a procedure and in such a scale against a former dictatorial government in Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. It was the first against a former dictatorship since the Nürnberg Trials, and the first to be conducted by a civilian court. It largely succeeded in proving the crimes of the juntas, which included forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of thousands of people. Opposition to the trial was largely limited to critical commentary by politicians, lawyers, and media figures sympathetic to the dictatorship, though it would also become violent: during the sentencing phase of the trial, 29 bomb threats were received in several Buenos Aires schools and a number of bombs were detonated in key government installations, including the Ministry of Defense
Libertador Building
The Libertador Building is a government building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, housing the Ministry of Defense.-Overview:...
. President Alfonsín declared a 60-day state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
on October 25.
Prosecutors presented 709 cases, of which 280 were heard. A total of 833 witnesses testified during the cross-examination
Cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination and may be followed by a redirect .- Variations by Jurisdiction :In...
phase that lasted until August 14, including former President Alejandro Lanusse, writer Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo is a human rights organisation with the aim of finding the babies stolen during the era of the Argentine dictatorship known as the "Dirty War" . Its president is Estela Barnes de Carlotto....
President Estela Barnes de Carlotto
Estela Barnes de Carlotto
Enriqueta Estela Barnes de Carlotto is an Argentine human rights activist and leader of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo.-Early life and family tragedy:...
, "Night of the Pencils
Night of the Pencils
The Night of the Pencils , was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of a number of young students during the last Argentine dictatorship...
" survivor Pablo Díaz, Carter Administration Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is the head of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor within the United States Department of State...
Patricia M. Derian
Patricia M. Derian
Patricia Murphy "Patt" Derian is a United States civil rights and human rights activist, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs from 1977 to 1981.-Biography:...
, Dutch jurist Theo van Boven
Theo van Boven
Theo van Boven is a Dutch jurist and professor emeritus in international law.In 1977 he was appointed director of the United Nations' Division for Human Rights....
, and renowned forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow
Clyde Snow
Clyde Snow is a well known U.S. forensic anthropologist. Some of his skeletal confirmations include John F. Kennedy, victims of John Wayne Gacy, King Tutankhamun, victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, and Dr. Josef Mengele.Snow started his higher education at the New Mexico Military Institute were...
.
Closing arguments were heard on September 18, which chief prosecutor Strassera concluded by declaring that:
Sentencing
Sentencing was read on December 9. General Jorge Videla and Admiral Emilio Massera were sentenced to life imprisonmentLife imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. General Roberto Viola: to 17 years in prison. Admiral Armando Lambruschini
Armando Lambruschini
Armando Lambruschini was an admiral in the Argentine Navy.-Life and career:He enrolled at the Argentine Naval School in 1942, and graduated as a midshipman in 1946...
: eight years. General Orlando Agosti
Orlando Ramon Agosti
Orlando Ramón Agosti was an Argentine general. With General Jorge Rafael Videla, he ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1981...
: four and a half years.
Omar Graffigna
Omar Graffigna
Omar Domingo Rubens Graffigna is a former Argentine Air Force officer who served in the second military junta of the National Reorganization Process dictatorship.-Life and times:...
, Leopoldo Galtieri
Leopoldo Galtieri
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri Castelli was an Argentine general and President of Argentina from December 22, 1981 to June 18, 1982, during the last military dictatorship . The death squad Intelligence Battalion 601 directly reported to him...
, Jorge Anaya
Jorge Anaya
Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya was a member of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires...
and Basilio Lami Dozo
Basilio Lami Dozo
Brigadier General Basilio Arturo Ignacio Lami Dozo was a member of the Argentine Air Force.He participated in the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganisation Process and, along with Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri and Jorge Isaac Anaya, was a member of the Third Military Junta that...
were acquitted, though the latter three were concomitantly court martialed for malfeasance in waging the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
of 1982. Charges against 600 others were brought to court, but these lawsuits were hampered by the Full Stop Law of 1986, which limited suits to those indicted within 60 days of the law's enactment, and the Law of Due Obedience of 1987, which effectively halted most remaining trials of Dirty War perpetrators.
Aftermath
Those sentenced or court-martialed were pardonPardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
ed by President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
in 1989 and 1990. President Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991. He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations ...
obtained an Argentine Supreme Court ruling permitting extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
s in cases of crimes against humanity in 2003, as well as a 2005 ruling that the 1986 and 1987 laws shielding those accused in the crimes from prosecution are unconstitutional. Consequently, and despite delays and ongoing threats against witnesses (including the disappearance of victim and witness Julio Jorge López
Julio Jorge López
Jorge Julio López is an Argentine retired bricklayer, who was kidnapped during the National Reorganization Process, and disappeared again during the democratic government of President Néstor Kirchner after testifying in trial against Dirty War criminal Miguel Etchecolatz.López was kidnapped and...
), over 600 hitherto immune defendants faced criminal proceedings by 2010. A total of 677 affidavits concerning civilians and servicemen killed in leftist terrorist acts were also filed.
See also
- Ley de Obediencia DebidaLey de Obediencia DebidaLey de Obediencia Debida was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Obediencia Debida (Spanish, Law of Due Obedience) was a law passed by the...
- Ley de Punto FinalLey de Punto FinalLey de Punto Final was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional . Formally, this law is referred to by number Ley de Punto Final (Spanish, roughly translated Full Stop Law) was a law passed by the...
- Carapintadas
- CONADEP