Argentine gets 640 years in jail for crimes against humanity

MADRID - In the first ruling of its kind in international law, Spain's National Court yesterday sentenced Argentine former naval officer Adolfo Scilingo to 640 years' jail for crimes against humanity committed during Argentinas "dirty war".

The Madrid court found that Scilingo, 68, participated in "death flights" during Argentinas military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, when opponents of the regime were stripped, drugged and flung from aircraft into the Atlantic.

It found him responsible for the deaths of 30 people.

This is the first case of a person present in court, rather than in absentia, convicted of human rights crimes committed in another country.

Yesterday's verdict is a triumphant vindication of the principle established by Spain's crusading judge Baltasar Garzon that human rights crimes can be tried anywhere in the world, and that ex-torturers and murderers have nowhere to hide.

Judge Garzons attempt to bring Augusto Pinochet to justice in Spain failed only when Britain freed the former Chilean dictator on health grounds in 2000 after 16 months of legal wrangling.

Pinochet was detained in London on an international arrest warrant for torture and genocide issued by Judge Garzon, but the then British Home Secretary Jack Straw refused Spains extradition request.

When the judge read yesterday's verdict, families of victims who had sought justice for 30 years and who had travelled from Argentina to give evidence burst into cries of joy, and some wept.

Scilingo, who heard the sentence with his head bowed, was convicted on 30 counts of murder, at 21 years each, plus five years for illegal detention and another five for torture.

"Murderer! Rot in jail!" cried a man in the gallery as guards led Scilingo from the dock.

Charges of genocide and terrorism were dropped, reflecting the difficulty of establishing proof in the case.

Evidence was provided by survivors, or relatives of victims, of the notorious death centre in Buenos Aires, the Naval Mechanics School (Esma) where Scilingo worked in 1976 and 1977.

Up to 5,000 died in Esma torture chambers, including women whose new-born babies were stolen and given to families of military officers.

But no one survived to testify to the vuelos de la muerte (flights of death), although macabre rumours swirled at the time of naked bodies found washed up in the River Plate.

That evidence was based on Scilingos confession that he had pushed prisoners from planes, which he later retracted.

Scilingo admitted in 1995 that he had participated in "action groups" responsible for kidnapping, torturing and "disappearing" people.

Tormented by his memories, he said up to 2,000 people were tossed alive from death flights, 15 or 20 at a time, including two French nuns.

He travelled to Madrid in 1997 and, seeking to implicate his superiors, told Judge Garzon he had thrown 30 people into the sea.

He was detained, but recanted and tried to sue Judge Garzon for unlawful detention.

Amnesty International hailed yesterdays verdict as "a clear message that perpetrators of crimes against humanity can find no refuge."

Some 30,000 Argentines disappeared during the dictatorship. Scilingo will serve only 30 years, under Spains penal code.

- INDEPENDENT