Genocide trial shines spotlight on 'dirty war'

[HuckleB]

Genocide trial shines spotlight on 'dirty war'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1390877,00.html

"A former Argentinian army officer, accused of throwing political prisoners to their death from military planes, appeared in a Spanish court yesterday in the country's first-ever genocide trial.

Adolfo Scilingo, 58, who is facing charges relating to his role in Argentina's dirty war when thousands of left-wing activists disappeared, had to be helped into the dock of Madrid's high court after hunger strike had left him severely weakened.

He faces eight separate charges of genocide, torture and terrorism brought by Spanish political groups and families of victims who claim they have been denied justice by an amnesty in Argentina.

Yesterday Jaime Sanz de Bremond, a prosecution lawyer representing the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a victims' group, said: "It was an ideological extermination. The military junta planned to suppress all those opposed to their western, Christian model."

..."

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Q&A: Argentina's grim past
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4173895.stm