Adios Amnesty: Prosecutorial Discretion and Military Trials in Argentina
2002; Routledge; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0163-7479
Autores Tópico(s)Torture, Ethics, and Law
ResumoI. INTRODUCTION In July of last year, Julio Simon sat in a bar on one of the busiest streets in Buenos Aires.1 When a crowd marching in a political protest saw him through the large windows, they ran inside and began pummeling him. Simon, bloodied and shaken, barricaded himself in the bathroom until the police arrived. The police beat the attackers - including Congresswoman Vilma Ripoli - away from Simon with their batons. Reporters and television cameras swarmed around the thirty policemen as they attempted to enter the bathroom. As the police took Simon to a safer place, the marchers chanted, Like the Nazis/it is going to happen to you/wherever you go we will come find you.2 The Argentine military junta began with a coup in 1976 and lasted until the military voluntarily relinquished power after a democratic election in 1983.3 Military officers tortured and killed suspected subversives in an effort to wipe out opposition to their regime.4 This period is known as the because of the unconventional and violent tactics employed by both the military and the opposition groups.5 As it turns out, Simon had tortured some of his current attackers in the late 1970s when he was a military officer in charge of a torture camp.6 Some of the state workers had recognized Julio Simon as El Turco Julian, the notorious official of the federal police who operated in secret concentration camps during the military dictatorship. This type of physical attack on a former military officer is not common in Buenos Aires. Nevertheless, it suggests that people no longer fear repercussions for speaking about their political beliefs, as they did under the dictatorship. Julio Simon and other military officials have walked free in Argentina because of the laws of Due Obedience 7 and Full Stop8; these laws granted amnesty for most crimes that were committed by military officials as part of the military dictatorship.9 Groups and individuals sensitive to human rights issues opposed these laws, and at least one Argentine Supreme Court Justice believed that they should be nullfied.10 While many agree on the legal basis for nullification, there has been a lively debate over whether the political climate is amenable to trials of the offending officers. On the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the coup, however, Judge Gabriel Cavallo nullified these laws. Federal judges in Argentina fulfill the roles of both prosecutor and judge.11 Judge Gabriel Cavallo is a federal judge in Buenos Aires appointed by former President Menem.12 Either a prosecutor or private parties may initiate criminal charges in Argentina.13 One such private party, the grandmother of a missing child named Claudia Victoria Poblete, recently brought charges against Julio Simon for the crime of kidnapping a minor.14 After Judge Cavallo detained him, a nonprofit human rights group, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS),15 filed additional charges against Simon for the kidnapping and murder of the child's parents - a crime for which Simon enjoyed immunity. Judge Cavallo's nullification of the amnesty laws of Due Obedience and Full Stop permit him to charge Simon and others with Dirty War crimes other than kidnapping minors. These laws were not previously nullified because the military strongly supported the concept of amnesty for crimes related to the Dirty War. President Alfonsin originally passed these amnesty laws in a period when the military was unstable, yet powerful enough to potentially mount another coup. Today, however, these conditions no longer exist, and Judge Cavallo's nullification of these laws is justified. The law in Argentina requires prosecutors to pursue every criminal offense to its completion - there is almost no discretion to make deals with the accused.16 Even with today's weakened military, across the board prosecutions could create unnecessary conflict and agitation within the military and society. …
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