HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Trial of the Juntas ( es, Juicio a las Juntas) was the judicial trial of the members of the ''de facto'' military government that ruled
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
during the dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (''el proceso''), which lasted from 1976 to 1983. The trial took place in 1985 and is so far the only example of such a large scale procedure by a democratic government against a former dictatorial government of the same country in Latin America. Those on trial were: Jorge Rafael Videla,
Emilio Eduardo Massera Emilio Eduardo Massera (19 October 1925 – 8 November 2010) was an Argentine Naval military officer, and a leading participant in the Argentine coup d'état of 1976. In 1981, he was found to be a member of P2 (also known as ''Propaganda Due'' ...
,
Roberto Eduardo Viola Roberto Eduardo Viola (13 October 1924 – 30 September 1994) was an Argentine military officer who briefly served as president of Argentina from 29 March to 11 December 1981 as a military dictator. Early life He was born as Roberto Eduardo Vi ...
,
Armando Lambruschini Armando Lambruschini (June 15, 1924 – August 15, 2004) was an admiral in the Argentine Navy. Life and career Lambruschini enrolled at the Argentine Naval School in 1942, and graduated as a midshipman in 1946. He was later named Captain of ...
,
Orlando Ramón Agosti Orlando Ramón Agosti (22 August 1924 – 6 October 1997) was an Argentine general, Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Air Force from 1976 to 1979. With General Jorge Rafael Videla, he ruled Argentina as part of the military '' junta'' between ...
, Omar Graffigna, Leopoldo Galtieri,
Jorge Anaya Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya (27 September 1926 – 9 January 2008) was a Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires. He participated in the right-wing military dictatorship known as th ...
and
Basilio Lami Dozo Basilio Arturo Ignacio Lami Dozo (1 February 1929 – 1 February 2017) was a member of the Argentine Air Force. He participated in the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganisation Process (1976–1983) and, along with Leopoldo Fortu ...
.


Overview

The Trial of the Juntas began on 22 April 1985, during the presidential administration of Raúl Alfonsín, the first elected government after the restoration of democracy in 1983. The main prosecutors were
Julio César Strassera Julio César Strassera (September 18, 1933 – February 27, 2015) was an Argentine lawyer and jurist. He served as Chief Prosecutor during the Trial of the Juntas in 1985. Life and times Early life Strassera was born in Buenos Aires in 1933. He ...
and his assistant
Luis Moreno Ocampo Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to mark Moreno as a surname, not a given name. (born 4 June 1952) is an Argentine lawyer who served as the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Co ...
(who would go on to become the first Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.) The trial was presided over by a tribunal of six judges: León Arslanián, Jorge Torlasco,
Ricardo Gil Lavedra Ricardo Gil Lavedra (born 24 July 1949) is an Argentine lawyer, magistrate, and politician. A member of the Radical Civic Union, Gil Lavedra served as Minister of Justice during the early presidency of Fernando de la Rúa, from 1999 to 2000. Fro ...
, Andrés D'Alessio, Jorge Valerga Aráoz, and Guillermo Ledesma. The dictatorship was a series of several military governments under four military juntas. The fourth junta, before calling for elections and relinquishing power to the democratic authorities, enacted a Self-Amnesty Law on April 18, 1983, as well as a secret decree that ordered the destruction of records and other evidence of their past crimes.


Preparation

Three days after his inauguration, on 13 December 1983, President Alfonsín signed Decree No. 158, which mandated the initiation of legal proceedings against the nine military officers of the first three juntas, but not the fourth (ruled by General Reynaldo Bignone). The
National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish: ', CONADEP) was an Argentine organization created by President Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983, shortly after his inauguration, to investigate the fate of the ''desaparecidos'' (vi ...
was established two days later to collect testimonies from thousands of witnesses, and presented 8,960 cases of
forced disappearances An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...
to the president on 20 September 1984. Following the refusal of a
military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
to try former junta members, Alfonsín established a National Criminal Court of Appeals for the purpose on 14 October.


Trial of the Juntas

This trial, which officially began on 22 April 1985, is so far the only example of such a large scale procedure by a democratic government against a former dictatorial government of the same country in Latin America. It was the first major trial held for war crimes since the
Nüremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded ...
in Germany following World War II, and the first to be conducted by a civilian court. It succeeded in prosecuting the crimes of the juntas, which included kidnapping, torture, forced disappearance, and murder of an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 people during what was called the
Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
against political dissidents. Opposition to the trial was largely limited to critical commentary by politicians, lawyers, and media figures sympathetic to the dictatorship. Some protest became violent: during the sentencing phase of the trial, 29 bomb threats were made to several Buenos Aires schools, and a number of bombs were detonated in key government installations, including the Ministry of Defense. On October 25, President Alfonsín declared a 60-day
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
. Prosecutors presented 709 cases, of which 280 were heard. A total of 833 witnesses testified during the
cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and ...
phase, which lasted until 14 August. Witnesses included former President
Alejandro Lanusse Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander ( Czech, Polish), Alexandre (French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander (Irish), Alessandro ( Italian), Aleksandr ( ...
, writer Jorge Luis Borges,
Estela Barnes de Carlotto Enriqueta Estela Barnes de Carlotto (born 22 October 1930) is an Argentine human rights activist and president of the association of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. One of her daughters, Laura Estela Carlotto, was Enforced disappearances in A ...
, President of
Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...
; " Night of the Pencils" survivor Pablo Díaz; Patricia M. Derian, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights in the
Carter Administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the 39th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A  Democrat from Georgia, Carter took office after defeating incumbent Republican Presiden ...
; Dutch jurist
Theo van Boven Theodoor Cornelis (Theo) van Boven (born 16 May 1934, Voorburg) is a Dutch jurist and professor emeritus in international law. In 1977, he was appointed director of the United Nations' Division for Human Rights, a precursor of the UN Human Right ...
, and renowned forensic
anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and v ...
Clyde Snow Clyde Snow (January 7, 1928 – May 16, 2014) was an American forensic anthropologist. Some of his skeletal confirmations include John F. Kennedy, victims of John Wayne Gacy, King Tutankhamun, victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, and Nazi doctor ...
.Ciancaglini, Sergio, and Granovsky, Martín. ''Nada más que la verdad: el juicio a las juntas''] (Nothing more than the truth: the trial of the juntas), ''Buenos Aires: Planeta'', 1995. Closing arguments were heard on September 18. Chief prosecutor Strassera concluded by declaring that: File:NUNCA MAS.ogv, Chief Prosecutor Julio César Strassera reads closing arguments.


Sentencing

Sentencing was read on 9 December: General
Jorge Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 198 ...
and Admiral
Emilio Massera Emilio Eduardo Massera (19 October 1925 – 8 November 2010) was an Argentine Naval military officer, and a leading participant in the Argentine coup d'état of 1976. In 1981, he was found to be a member of P2 (also known as ''Propaganda Due'' ...
were sentenced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
, General
Roberto Viola Roberto Eduardo Viola (13 October 1924 – 30 September 1994) was an Argentine military officer who briefly served as president of Argentina from 29 March to 11 December 1981 as a military dictator. Early life He was born as Roberto Eduardo Vio ...
: seventeen years, Admiral
Armando Lambruschini Armando Lambruschini (June 15, 1924 – August 15, 2004) was an admiral in the Argentine Navy. Life and career Lambruschini enrolled at the Argentine Naval School in 1942, and graduated as a midshipman in 1946. He was later named Captain of ...
: eight years, General Orlando Agosti: four and a half years. Omar Graffigna, Leopoldo Galtieri,
Jorge Anaya Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya (27 September 1926 – 9 January 2008) was a Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Navy. He was born in Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires. He participated in the right-wing military dictatorship known as th ...
and
Basilio Lami Dozo Basilio Arturo Ignacio Lami Dozo (1 February 1929 – 1 February 2017) was a member of the Argentine Air Force. He participated in the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganisation Process (1976–1983) and, along with Leopoldo Fortu ...
were acquitted, though the latter three were concomitantly
court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
ed for malfeasance in waging the Falklands War of 1982. Charges against 600 others were brought to court, but these lawsuits were hampered by the
Full Stop Law The Full stop law, ''Ley de Punto Final'', was passed by the National Congress of Argentina in 1986, three years after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976 to 1983) and restoration of democracy. F ...
of 1986, which limited suits to those indicted within 60 days of the law's enactment, and the
Law of Due Obedience The Law of Due Obedience ( es, Ley de obediencia debida) was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (which started with a coup d'état in 1976 and e ...
of 1987, which effectively halted most remaining trials of Dirty War perpetrators.


Aftermath

Between 1989 and 1990, President
Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...
pardoned the men who had been sentenced or court-martialed. President Néstor Kirchner obtained an
Argentine Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Argentina ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Argentina), officially known as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentine Nation ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, CSJN), is the highest court of ...
ruling permitting
extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
s in cases of crimes against humanity in 2003, and that same year the Congress repealed the Full Stop Law. In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that the 1986 and 1987 laws shielding officers accused of crimes were unconstitutional. In 2006 the government tried
Miguel Etchecolatz Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz (1 May 1929 – 2 July 2022) was an Argentine police officer, who worked in the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the first years of the military dictatorship of the 1970s. Etchecolatz was deeply involved in the ...
, the first to be prosecuted of potentially 600 defendants. Witnesses and the judges were threatened, and immediately after the sentencing, Julio Jorge López disappeared. A victim of state violence and witness for the prosecution, he was feared dead and has never been found.


Archives

The original video tapes of the trial have been in Norway since 1988. All of the Trial's judges traveled to Oslo on April 25 of that year with 147 VHS tapes which were given to the Norwegian Parliament in order to keep them safe and avoid any commercial use. They are kept next to the original text of the
Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system = Constitutional monarchy , ...
.Aquellos testimonios del Juicio a las Juntas
/ref>


See also

*
Ley de Obediencia Debida The Law of Due Obedience ( es, Ley de obediencia debida) was a law passed by the National Congress of Argentina after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (which started with a coup d'état in 1976 and ...
*
Ley de Punto Final The Full stop law, ''Ley de Punto Final'', was passed by the National Congress of Argentina in 1986, three years after the end of the military dictatorship of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976 to 1983) and restoration of democracy. F ...
*
Carapintada The ' ( en, Painted Faces) were a group of mutineers in the Argentine Army, who took part in various uprisings between 1987 and 1990 during the presidencies of Raúl Alfonsín and Carlos Menem in Argentina. The rebellions, while at first thought ...
s *
CONADEP National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish: ', CONADEP) was an Argentine organization created by President Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983, shortly after his inauguration, to investigate the fate of the ''desaparecidos'' (v ...
*
Greek junta trials The Greek junta trials ( el, Οι Δίκες της Χούντας translated as: The Τrials of the Junta) were the trials involving members of the military junta that ruled Greece from 21 April 1967 to 23 July 1974. These trials involved the ins ...
*''
Argentina, 1985 ''Argentina, 1985'' is a 2022 Argentine historical legal drama film produced and directed by Santiago Mitre. Written by Mitre and Mariano Llinás, it stars Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner and Norman Briski. The film follows ...
'', a historical drama about the trial


References


Decree No. 158
- Presidential decree that mandated the prosecution of the juntas.

with Julio César Strassera. * Clarín, 2005-12-09

{{Raúl Alfonsín Presidency of Raúl Alfonsín Legal history of Argentina Dirty War Trials in Argentina 1985 in Argentina Articles containing video clips