Argentina's 'dirty war' amnesty declared unconstitutional

Hundreds of people could be charged with torture, disappearances and kidnapping babies during Argentina’s “dirty war” after the Supreme Court struck down amnesties passed in the 1980s.

For victims, last night’s ruling revived the possibility of justice. For military officers, policemen and doctors with ties to the dictatorship, it stoked fears that they would be brought back to court.

Officially, 13,000 people are listed as dead or missing from the 1976 to 1983 dictatorship’s crackdown on dissent, although human rights groups say the toll is closer to 30,000.

Some 3,000 officers, around 300 of whom are still serving in the armed forces, could be called for questioning, according to human rights groups, which estimated that up to 400 of them could face new charges.

The Supreme Court, by a seven to one vote with one abstention, struck out laws passed in 1986 and 1987 forbidding charges involved in disappearances, torture and other crimes during the dictatorship.

The ruling came in the case of Julio Simon, a former police officer accused in the disappearance of Jose Poblete and Gertrudis Hlaczik and of taking their daughter, Claudia Poblete, as his own.

Under Argentine law, the decision can be taken as precedent in other cases.

President Nestor Kirchner called it a major step toward healing the wounds of one of Argentina’s most turbulent chapters.

“The court’s decisions has restored our faith in justice,” he said. “This is a blast of fresh air that signifies the end of impunity.”

In August 2003, the House and Senate voted to repeal the 1986 and 1987 laws. But activists had waited for the Supreme Court to make a final decision on the constitutionality of the laws, which effectively ended trials for officers accused of human rights abuses.

After the dictatorship, many ranking military officers were tried on charges of abducting, torturing and executing suspected opponents of the regime. They were imprisoned in 1985 – before the amnesty laws went into effect but were pardoned by then-President Carlos Menem in 1990.

Those officers were accused of waging a systematic crackdown on leftist and other political opponents who were kidnapped off the streets, tortured in clandestine centres and “disappeared”.

Many were detained naked and blindfolded in chains while they were tortured with electric prods and drugged before being tossed into the South Atlantic on so-called “death flights”.