THE CASE ELISABETH KÄSEMANN

TRIAL BEGAN ON 26 FEBRUARY 2010 IN BUENOS AIRES

Having previously been deferred several times, the trial concerning eight former military officials and their involvement in the secret torture centre "El Vesubio" began on 26 February 2010 before the 4^th Federal Court in Buenos Aires. Those accused are charged with human rights abuses concerning 157 victims, and the spoken trial is expected to last for several months. Among the cases to be heard is the murder of German citizen Elisabeth Käsemann on 23-24 May 1977. The Federal Republic of Germany has joined the trial as plaintiff and has entered the proceedings with its own attorney.

GERMAN ARREST WARRANT FOR FORMER DICTATOR VIDELA

MURDER OF THE GERMAN CITIZEN ROLF STAWOWIOK

On December 15th, the Nuremberg district court has issued another arrest warrant for Jorge Rafael Videla, the former head of the Argentinean military junta that governed the country from 1976 until 1983 on suspicion of having been involved in the murder of the German citizen Rolf Stawowiok. In January 2010 the Nuremberg-Fürth state prosecutors' office suspended the proceedings because of the suspect's absence.

THE CASE MERCEDES BENZ ARGENTINA S.A.

ECCHR FILED A LEGAL OPINION

ECCHR supports victims of political violence under the Argentinean military dictatorship that have pressed criminal charges in Argentina. On 12 November 2009 ECCHR Berlin filed a legal opinion as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) with an Argentinian court of the province San Martín.
In this legal opinion ECCHR points out that the Argentinean government is obliged to investigate the responsibility of corporate actors in connection with the human rights violations of the military dictatorship. It furthermore demonstrates that since the progeny trials of the Nuremberg War Crime Trials investigating the role of economic actors is part of dealing with state crime.

Amicus Curiae Brief (Spanish) (332.4 kB)

Article in Página 12 (Spanish)

UPDATE ON ON-GOING TRIALS IN ARGENTINA III

Campo de Mayo was a military area 30km outside Buenos Aires. Between 1976 and 1980 it was divided into four different secret detention and torture centers: El Campito, La Casita, La Prisión Militar de Encausados and El Hospital Militar. The area was under the control and command of the Command of Military Institutes ("Comando de Institutos Militares"), which was led by the four Generals Santiago Omar Riveros, José Montes, Cristino Nicolaides and Reynaldo Bignone at this time.

UPDATE ON ON-GOING TRIALS IN ARGENTINA II

The First Army Corps Case, "Primer Cuerpo del Ejército" (no. 14.216/2003), concerns violations of human rights such as torture, murder, deprivation of liberty and kidnapping. Members of the First Army Corps committed these crimes in Buenos Aires and the region of La Pampa, Argentina, from 1976 to 1983.

UPDATE ON ON-GOING TRIALS IN ARGENTINA I

The major case ("mega causa" - Case 14.217/203) concerns crimes committed in the center of detention and torture based in the Escuela Mecánica de la Armada (E.S.M.A.) between 24 March 1976 and 10 December 1983. The oral hearings opened on 11 December 2009 before the Federal Court No. 5 (Tribunal Oral Federal nº5) in Buenos Aires.

ARGENTINEAN DICTATORSHIP TRIALS

As of December 2009, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) will monitor the current trials of former military officials in Argentinean federal courts. The defendants are charged with severe human rights violations committed from 1976 to 1983 under the military dictatorship.

ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck, spokesperson and lawyer for the 1998 founded German "Coalition Against Impunity: Truth and Justice for the German disappeared in Argentina", is travelling with Berlin filmmaker Alexandra Weltz (Parkafilm) to Buenos Aires to report back in a Video Blog.

ARGENTINEAN CASES

For the first time since 1984-1985, in recognition of the 2003 Nuremberg court decision against former dictator Jorge Rafaél Videla, criminal proceedings will take place in Argentina against members of the Argentine military dictatorship for crimes including the murder of German citizen, Elisabeth Käsemann.

Of the 30,000 victims of the military regime, which reigned from 1976-1983, approximately 100 of those killed carried German passports or were of German ancestry. This issue is of special interest to Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of the European Center, whose cases focus on the defense of the rights of German citizens.