ARGENTINEAN DICTATORSHIP CASES
THE GERMAN "COALITION AGAINST IMPUNITY"
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.
Kaleck is one of the spokesmen for the German "Coalition against Impunity," a merger of religious and solidarity groups, as well as judicial and human rights organization, fostered under the initiative of Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, and the organization of German "Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.” In Germany, criminal complaints have been logged on behalf of forty victims of the Argentinean military dictatorship, including Elisabeth Käsemann, the daughter of the well-known theologian Ernst Käsemann. Until she became involved in the resistance movement against the military dictatorship, Käsemann lived and worked in Argentina. In March 1977 she was abducted, tortured and two months later murdered by Argentinean security forces.
The jurisdiction of German courts in these cases is derived from the fact that victims were of German nationality. Comprehensive and long lasting investigations, mounted by the public prosecution, led to arrest warrants, issued by the Nuremberg district court of former chief executives of the military junta, Jorge Rafael Videla and Emilio Massera, for the murders of the Germans Elisabeth Käsemann and Klaus Zieschank in 2003.
Since 2004, the German government has been requesting that Argentine government extradite the two generals. The German authority declined immunity for former head of states, and commanders-in-chief. The defendants were found responsible for the killings though members of the military organization carried them out.
On July 2nd 2008, the Argentinean Supreme Court, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, formally declined the extradition warrant. Videla and Massera are currently under house arrest in Argentina. They have been charged with numerous violations, and all legal proceedings are currently pending in Argentinean courts. The German government represented the deceased, Elisabeth Käsemann, through its own lawyer, in form of adjoined party (partie civile / Nebenkläger). The coalition was involved in the trial, "Mega-Causa (major proceeding) ESMA", against members of the first military corps, and the case of Elisabeth Käsemann. In 2004, the German public prosecution shut down any further investigation. All legal remedies, filed against these decisions, have been to no avail.
The "Coalition against Impunity" is also involved in monitoring trials for murders and disappearances of German citizens, the representation of victims in civil actions, and the mentoring of witnesses.
Between 1976 and1977, fourteen unionists were abducted by military supported transnational corporation, and later murdered. The case of disappeared unionists, filed to the prosecuting authorities in Nuremberg, Buenos Aires, and also to US civil courts, demonstrates cooperation between transnational corporations and the Argentinean military dictatorship. In September of 1999, Wolfgang Kaleck filed a criminal complaint, on behalf of the victims, against the German-Argentinean Juan Tasselkraut, the then plant manager, in González Catán, Buenos Aires. While comprehensive investigations were initiated on the basis of this complaint, all proceedings were ultimately closed. The appellate court also dismissed the civil claim for compensation, filed in the U.S.A, in 2004, against Daimler Chrysler. The proceeding against Daimler Chrysler in Argentina are still pending. Both proceedings are supported by the ECCHR.
Statement from ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck:
The aim of the trials, ongoing since 1998 in Germany and other countries, against the Argentinean military, is to end impunity in Argentina. At least, in part, we have reached this aim with the reopening of numerous criminal proceedings and the first convictions of military personnel in Argentina.
We will continue to fight in and from Germany for truth and justice for the 30,000 disappeared in Argentina.
Kaleck is one of the spokesmen for the German "Coalition against Impunity," a merger of religious and solidarity groups, as well as judicial and human rights organization, fostered under the initiative of Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, and the organization of German "Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.” In Germany, criminal complaints have been logged on behalf of forty victims of the Argentinean military dictatorship, including Elisabeth Käsemann, the daughter of the well-known theologian Ernst Käsemann. Until she became involved in the resistance movement against the military dictatorship, Käsemann lived and worked in Argentina. In March 1977 she was abducted, tortured and two months later murdered by Argentinean security forces.
The jurisdiction of German courts in these cases is derived from the fact that victims were of German nationality. Comprehensive and long lasting investigations, mounted by the public prosecution, led to arrest warrants, issued by the Nuremberg district court of former chief executives of the military junta, Jorge Rafael Videla and Emilio Massera, for the murders of the Germans Elisabeth Käsemann and Klaus Zieschank in 2003.
Since 2004, the German government has been requesting that Argentine government extradite the two generals. The German authority declined immunity for former head of states, and commanders-in-chief. The defendants were found responsible for the killings though members of the military organization carried them out.
On July 2nd 2008, the Argentinean Supreme Court, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, formally declined the extradition warrant. Videla and Massera are currently under house arrest in Argentina. They have been charged with numerous violations, and all legal proceedings are currently pending in Argentinean courts. The German government represented the deceased, Elisabeth Käsemann, through its own lawyer, in form of adjoined party (partie civile / Nebenkläger). The coalition was involved in the trial, "Mega-Causa (major proceeding) ESMA", against members of the first military corps, and the case of Elisabeth Käsemann. In 2004, the German public prosecution shut down any further investigation. All legal remedies, filed against these decisions, have been to no avail.
The "Coalition against Impunity" is also involved in monitoring trials for murders and disappearances of German citizens, the representation of victims in civil actions, and the mentoring of witnesses.
Between 1976 and1977, fourteen unionists were abducted by military supported transnational corporation, and later murdered. The case of disappeared unionists, filed to the prosecuting authorities in Nuremberg, Buenos Aires, and also to US civil courts, demonstrates cooperation between transnational corporations and the Argentinean military dictatorship. In September of 1999, Wolfgang Kaleck filed a criminal complaint, on behalf of the victims, against the German-Argentinean Juan Tasselkraut, the then plant manager, in González Catán, Buenos Aires. While comprehensive investigations were initiated on the basis of this complaint, all proceedings were ultimately closed. The appellate court also dismissed the civil claim for compensation, filed in the U.S.A, in 2004, against Daimler Chrysler. The proceeding against Daimler Chrysler in Argentina are still pending. Both proceedings are supported by the ECCHR.
Statement from ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck:
The aim of the trials, ongoing since 1998 in Germany and other countries, against the Argentinean military, is to end impunity in Argentina. At least, in part, we have reached this aim with the reopening of numerous criminal proceedings and the first convictions of military personnel in Argentina.
We will continue to fight in and from Germany for truth and justice for the 30,000 disappeared in Argentina.
Court documents in German language you can find here.
Interview
Interview with Ellen Marx, holocaust survivor and distinguished member of the Argentinean human rights movement.
Interview
Interview with Ellen Marx, holocaust survivor and distinguished member of the Argentinean human rights movement.
Media and Links
In English
TRIAL Watch Profiles
http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profil/db/legal-procedures/emilio-eduardo_massera_173.html
Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists - Argentina: Legal Memorandum the Full Stop and Due Obedience Laws submitted
26 February 2004
http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_article=3250&lang=en
DW-World - German Justice Pursues Argentina's Killers
4 December 2003
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1049647,00.html
Amnesty International - ARGENTINA: Cases of "disappeared" facing judicial closure in Germany
April 2000
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR13/003/2000/en/ae48d602-df66-11dd-acaa-7d9091d4638f/amr130032000en.pdf
en español
DW-World - Corte Suprema argentina rechaza extradición ex dictadores a Alemania
02 de julio de 2008
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3456081,00.html
DW-World - Alemania sigue reclamando a Videla
23 de mayo de 2007
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2555248,00.html
Coalición contra la Impunidad - Exposición: Fútbol y Derechos Humanos http://www.menschenrechte.org/Menschenrechte/coalicion.htm
Coalición contra la Impunidad - Ex Presidente Videla arrestado en Buenos Aires a petición del Tribunal de Nuremberg
27 de enero de 2004
http://www.menschenrechte.org/beitraege/koalition/beit013ko.htm
Actualidad - Pedido de captura para Videla, Massera y Suárez Mason
3 de diciembre de 2003
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=551190
Rodolfo Yanzón - Judicialización de crímenes de derechos humanos de la dictadura militar en Argentina
http://www.menschenrechte.org/beitraege/koalition/beit003ko.htm