Argentina: Life in jail for ex-army chief

After living free and in impunity for so many years it’s nice to see the long arm of the law nab some of the main figures responsible for human rights abuses during the “Dirty War”:

A court in Argentina sentenced a notorious former military leader to life in prison for atrocities committed in 1977 at a clandestine torture center used by the military dictatorship where only 17 of more than 2,200 political prisoners survived…

After a trial lasting almost two months, the court on Thursday also sentenced six other former military officers and one civilian for crimes committed during the military regime. Four of them were also given life sentences, with remaining three receiving sentences ranging from 18 to 22 years in prison, Argentine newspapers reported…

“Today justice was done,” the daughter of one of the victims told the television channel Todo Noticias.

Earlier this month, a pair of police captains were found guilty of their roles in the infamous 1976 Fatima massacre where at least thirty people were killed and subsequently blown up with dynamite.

Image- BBC News (“(Luciano Benjamin) Menendez kidnapped, tortured and killed the four left-wing activists.”)

Sources- New York Times, The Latin Americanist