No face to face between accused and relatives of victims as in previous editions, no long wait in court, no slogan ” Present ! Ahora y siempre! “ (“Present, now and always”, traditionally chanted after the names of the missing)… It was by videoconference that the verdict in the trial for crimes against humanity “ESMA IV” was announced, Thursday February 18, broadcast live on YouTube.
Eight defendants, former soldiers and police officers under the dictatorship, which reigned in Argentina from 1976 to 1983, were sentenced to terms ranging from six years in prison to life imprisonment, for crimes committed against some 800 victims (illegal detention, torture, murder, theft of babies, etc.)
“We asked for life imprisonment for seven of the eight accused; but it is a satisfactory verdict, which establishes the responsibility of people who had never been tried before ”, says Sol Hourcade, lawyer, member of the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a human rights NGO which represented several victims in this trial.
The Marine Mechanics School (ESMA, now converted into a memory museum and cultural center) housed one of the largest clandestine detention centers during the military dictatorship. Given the large number of victims (estimated at 5,000 people, a large majority of whom are still missing) and accused, the ESMA “mega-trial” includes several components: ESMA I, ESMA II, ESMA III (the longest and the most publicized, whose verdict fell in 2017) …
Offer “memory, truth and justice”
And ESMA IV will certainly not be the last: “New evidence always emerges, which in turn allows new responsibilities to be established”, indicates Sol Hourcade, specifying that other trials related to crimes committed at ESMA are underway, including one which examines the sexual assaults and rapes perpetrated by two military officials within the clandestine detention center. The lawyer also cites the case of ex-police officer Mario Sandoval, whom France extradited at the end of 2019.
More than 1,000 people have already been convicted in Argentina since 2006, when the first verdict was issued after the resumption of trials for crimes against humanity. After the laws of impunity and the amnesties of criminals voted at the end of the dictatorship – some of which decreed by the former president Carlos Menem, who died on February 14 – this dramatic page of Argentinian history was reopened under the mandate of Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) in order to offer “Memory, truth and justice” to victims and bereaved families.
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