Victory for human rights as Argentina votes to scrap amnesty laws

ARGENTINA’S Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to scrap a pair of amnesty laws dating to the 1980s that had ended trials for human rights abuses committed during the country’s military dictatorship.

Human rights activists and relatives of the disappeared present broke into raucous applause when it was announced that Senators had voted 43 to seven with one abstention to scrap the laws. Twenty-one lawmakers were absent. The lower House of Congress had passed the proposal last week.

The final congressional approval marked a victory for human rights groups who are pressing for a national re-examination of the 1976-83 dictatorship.

President Nestor Kirchner, who has given human rights new prominence during his weeks in power, is expected to sign the bill. Observers said, however, that the Supreme Court will likely have the final decision on the laws.

At issue is the fate of Argentina’s “Full Stop” and “Due Obedience” laws, enacted in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Those laws effectively ended human rights trials after the 1976-83 dictatorship that is blamed for a crackdown on dissidents.

Some 9,000 people were officially reported as dead or missing during the junta’s years in power, but human rights groups estimated the number could be as high as 30,000 from the seven-year period in which leftist opponents were hunted down, kidnapped off the streets, tortured and made to disappear.

Women wearing scarves denoting the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who are still seeking an accounting for those missing, filled the Senate gallery yesterday. Some held up crinkled black-and-white photos of victims.

Following Argentina’s dictatorship, many ranking military officers were tried on charges of abduction, torture and execution of suspected opponents of the regime. They were imprisoned in 1985 and later pardoned in 1990 by then-President Carlos Menem.

Opponents say the “Full Stop” and “Due Obedience” laws were enacted by a fledgling democratic government bent on appeasing army leaders angry over the trials.

“Our decision here will not be a mere declaration of political opinion or intentions, but one in which Congress shows a real commitment to settling our debt with the past,” said Senator Jorge Busti, a ruling Peronist party member who favoured scrapping the laws.

But opponents charged that tossing out the amnesty laws would open a can of worms and that Congress could be construed as overstepping bounds and infringing on the courts’ decisions.

“Clearly Congress is not equipped with the powers to annul these laws,” argued Senator Raul Baglini of the Radical Civic Union.

Mr Kirchner began his four-year term in May by moving to reorganise the military high command and dropping several officers who began their careers as junior officers during the junta years. He also has said he would do all possible to strengthen Argentina’s much-criticised justice system.

His wife, Senator Cristina Kirchner, had made the final impassioned plea for scrapping the laws.

“The future (of the country) won’t be built by sweeping all the dirt under the rug,” she said, her fist shaking as her voice rose with anger.

“Parliament essentially told the judges that they could not try crimes like kidnapping and torture,” said the outspoken senate leader.

But opponents charged that Congress was overstepping bounds into the purview of the courts. Lower courts have repeatedly challenged the constitutionality of the amnesty laws since 2000, and ultimately, the Supreme Court is expected to be the final arbiter on their validity.