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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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