Purging the Legal System of Dictatorship Accomplices

[Judi Lynn]

Purging the Legal System of Dictatorship Accomplices
By Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 6, 2011 (IPS) - As human rights cases from Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship move ahead in the courts, cases of judges and prosecutors who were accomplices in the crimes are coming to light.

Thanks to the memory of witnesses and survivors of the "dirty war", as well as the tireless efforts of human rights organisations, judges and prosecutors implicated in dictatorship-era human rights crimes have generally been kept from taking part in the trials.

And information provided by the survivors and witnesses is now being used to gradually purge these judges and prosecutors from the legal system.

The most recent case is that of Otilio Romano, a federal court judge in the western province of Mendoza, who despite numerous accusations against him managed to stay in his post until late August. There was evidence that Romano was involved in 76 cases of kidnapping, torture and forced disappearance between 1975 and 1983. Nevertheless, he evaded legal action for years.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105006

[yurbud]

1. shit! I thought we were finally going to do that.