Justice for the "desaparecidos" in Argentina. Universal Jurisdiction as a reinforcement mechanism for domestic justice to deal with the past

MIRA, JULIETA

Nottingham

Conferencia; 8va Conferencia de Derechos Humanos sobre Justicia Penal Internacional; 2007

Universidad de Nottingham

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:新細明體; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:81; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:16777216 0 134479873 0 1048576 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:新細明體; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The last dictatorship in Argentina committed egregious crimes from 1976 to 1983. Between 10.000 to 30.000 persons were clandestine kidnapped, tortured and assassinated and they are still "desaparecidos".  At least 500 children were born in clandestine centres of detention or were kidnap with their parents; they also are missing and are the only "desaparecidos" today alive.   Nowadays, thirty years later, justice is possible in Argentina because the criminal trials for crimes against humanity were reopened before the domestic tribunals in 2005, after previous trials had been interrupted over 20 years by different forms of amnesty laws.  The justice process has started again thanks to the international and local political pressure from the victims, human rights organisations and tribunals outside Argentina for terminating the impunity.   Spanish tribunals and the judge Balthazar Garzón sent to trial several former members of the Argentinean security forces under the charge of genocide on the basis of the principle of universal jurisdiction. These Spanish procedures helped to maintain alive the struggle for justice (during the time of the amnesties law in Argentina), and were useful for pushing the local government to respect its international commitments related with human rights.  At the same time, this is an interesting example of the positive relationships between foreign criminal accountability and national (local) justice.    During 2006, two previous perpetrators were convicted by local tribunals in Argentina.  First, Julio Simón, a former policeman, was sentenced to 25 years of prison. Second, Miguel Etchecolatz, former intelligence officer, was sentenced to life imprisonment. These two judgements are an example of the development of the localised justice in Argentina. The paper seeks to evaluate the impact of Spanish above-mentioned case-law onto the Argentinean judgements. It will especially look at the issues of the different impacts of the local and foreign procedures in terms of viability, effectiveness and the social awareness they raise.   The justice process in Argentina is a case-study for understanding the necessity of justice for the local and international society in the sense of stopping the impunity, dealing with the past, guaranteeing the non-repetition of the atrocities and for keeping safe the social promise of "Never Again".