Argentine 'dirty war' suspect convicted

[UpInArms]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/11432509.htm

MADRID, Spain - A Spanish court on Tuesday convicted a former Argentine naval officer of committing atrocities during his country's "dirty war" more than two decades ago and sentenced him to 640 years in prison.

The trial of Adolfo Scilingo, 58, was Spain's first of a suspect accused of committing human rights abuses in another country. Spanish law says crimes against humanity can be tried in this country even if they are alleged to have been committed elsewhere.

Relatives and friends of people who died during Argentine military rule from 1976-83 hugged each other in the courtroom upon hearing the verdict. Some wore stickers with pictures of their missing loved ones on their clothes.

<snip>

Scilingo had come to Spain voluntarily in 1997 to testify before a judge investigating atrocities allegedly committed by military regimes in Argentina and Chile. He admitted to participating in two so-called "death flights" in which 30 drugged, naked detainees were thrown from planes during Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship.

...more...

[leveymg]

1. Boosh Party, Your Table Is Ready.

We'll even pay your airfare to Madrid. Tapas?

:bounce:

[Jack Rabbit]

2. BBC Link: 'Dirty war' officer found guilty

From the BBC Online
Dated Tuesday April 19

'Dirty war' officer found guilty

An Argentine former naval officer has been found guilty in Spain of crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 640 years in prison.

Adolfo Scilingo, 58, was found to have been on board planes from which 30 people were thrown to their deaths.

The offences were committed during Argentina's "dirty war" - the period of military rule between 1976 and 1983.

The trial in Spain was the first under new laws allowing local prosecution for crimes committed in another country.

Six hundred forty years. Is there any possibility of parole? Time off for good behavior? I didn't think so.

Even if it takes thirty years, I am looking forward to many of those now in the White House and Pentagon getting similar sentences for launching an unprovoked war of aggression predicated on lies and for instituting a global network of gulags and torture chambers.

[WearyOne]

3. King Carlos..please invite George W. to Madrid

[emad]

4. 'Dirty war' officer found guilty

BBC
An Argentine former naval officer has been found guilty in Spain of crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 640 years in prison.

Adolfo Scilingo, 58, was found to have been on board planes from which 30 people were thrown to their deaths.

The offences were committed during Argentina's "dirty war" - the period of military rule between 1976 and 1983.

The trial in Spain was the first under new laws allowing local prosecution for crimes committed in another country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4460871.stm

[Roland99]

5. So when does the Propagandist get charged with war crimes?

I wish more countries had laws like that.

[struggle4progress]

6. kick

[Judi Lynn]

7. Beautiful! How damned appropriate.

I'm sure so many, many people have been waiting to hear the news.

It looks as if the bastard is trying to pretend he's infirm. Found some photos of him screwing around in the courtroom. You may remember that Vladimiro Montesinos, in Peru, who ran death squads, and a drug dealing business, working for President Fujimoro also tried this old gag, as well, during his own trial.

Here's Scilingo, having us all on!



Maybe he's being visited by images of people he tortured to death.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Kick!

[chlamor]

9. Argentinian Jailed for Throwing Prisoners from Plane

Argentinian jailed for throwing prisoners from plane

Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Wednesday April 20, 2005
The Guardian

An Argentinian former naval officer who threw prisoners, drugged and naked, to their death from planes was convicted of crimes against humanity and jailed for a total of 640 years by a Spanish court yesterday for his part in the "dirty war" against dissidents conducted by the Argentinian military regime in the 1970s.

Captain Adolfo Scilingo killed 30 leftwing prisoners, who were thrown out at 4,000 metres (13,000ft) above the Atlantic, on two flights.

The judgment, reached by three judges in the national court in Madrid, described how naval officers tortured victims with electric shocks which burned their flesh. The torture sessions were called "barbecues".

Judge José Ricardo de Prada said, delivering the judgment, said: "As a macabre joke they would make them dance to Brazilian music."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,11439,1463893,00.html

[Kingshakabobo]

10. I wonder where they learned that trick? n/t

[bemildred]

11. SOA. nt

[Kingshakabobo]

15. That's what I was thinkin. n/t

[DulceDecorum]

14. Project Coast.

During the first week of May 2000, Judge Willie Hartzenberg and the crowded courtroom of Pretoria's High Court heard the grizzly confession of Johan Theron, a former information officer of South Africa's apartheid government's Special Forces. The small, balding, 57-year-old man told the court that he was involved in the deaths of more than 200 anti-apartheid political prisoners between 1979 and 1987. The deaths, he claimed, were merely a part of his job.

According to Theron, the executions of hundreds of prisoners were a solution to the increasing prison inmate population of several defense force camps. In fact, he told the court that the disposal of the prisoners was primarily his idea, one that he initially proposed to his superiors in 1979. Theron stated that he used various methods to kill the prisoners, including burning, beating, poisoning and strangulation.

One of Theron's acts took place in 1983 in northern Kwazulu-Natal, Africa. According to LoBaido's article The Secrets of Project Coast, Theron claimed to have been instructed by his superior, Dr. Wouter Basson, to tie up three prisoners to a tree overnight and smear their bodies with jelly-like lethal toxins. The primary aim was to test the toxic agent to see if it was capable of causing death. To Theron's dismay, the men did not die as easily as he expected.

The next day, Theron found the men still clinging to life. He decided to get rid of the men in another way. He loaded them into a small plane and flew off towards the ocean. According to an article by South Africa's Sunday Times, during the flight Theron claimed that he injected the three men with lethal muscle relaxants before dumping their bodies into the sea. Theron further stated to the court that a majority of his victims were disposed of in a similar manner, by dumping them into the water some 100 miles off the coast.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/south_africa/?sect=22

[HuckleB]

12. A tiny bit of justice.

Salud.

[Barrett808]

13. Are you listening, Negroponte? n/t