Franco-Era Crimes Reach Courts in Argentina

[Judi Lynn]

Franco-Era Crimes Reach Courts in Argentina
By Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 14, 2010 (IPS) - Invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity, the relatives of two Spanish mayors who were executed during that country's 1936-1939 civil war filed genocide charges in Argentina Wednesday.

The lawsuit is a response by human rights groups from Argentina and Spain to legal charges against Spain's famous investigative Judge Baltasar Garzón, who has been accused of overreaching his judicial powers by starting to investigate atrocities committed during Spain's civil war and the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

~snip~
By filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs backed Garzón's determination to apply the principle of universal justice when he launched, from Spain, judicial probes of Argentine human rights abusers in the late 1990s, while they continued to enjoy impunity in their own country under amnesty laws and presidential pardons.

But Garzón is best known for issuing the international warrant that brought about the 1998 arrest of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), who was held under house arrest in London for 18 months before he was released by the British government on humanitarian grounds in 2000.

Garzón unsuccessfully sought Pinochet's extradition to Spain, to try him for crimes against humanity in relation to the deaths of Spanish citizens during the Chilean dictatorship. The former dictator died in 2006 without ever being convicted.

In 1998, the Spanish magistrate sought the extradition of 46 former military and civilian officials from Argentina, including former junta members Jorge Rafael Videla and Emilio Massera. But the extradition request was turned down by then President Carlos Menem (1989-1999) - who had pardoned the dictators - and by his successor Fernando de la Rúa (1999-2001).

However, Garzón had more success in prosecuting former Argentine naval captain Adolfo Scilingo, who confessed to some 30 crimes committed during the dictatorship but was protected by the amnesty laws in Argentina

In 2005, Scilingo was sentenced to 640 years in prison in Spain.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51047

[Wilms]

1. k&r n/t