MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine court ruling buries amnesty bills

Argentina's Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned as “unconstitutional” two 1986 laws that had shielded hundreds from prosecution for murder, kidnapping and torture carried out under the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

A 7-1 vote plus an abstention, clears the way for prosecutions of officials suspected of human rights abuses during military rule between 1976 and 1983.

The Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Argentine Congress in August 2003 to scrap the amnesty laws. Civil liberties groups say about 30,000 people were killed or went missing under the former dictatorship.

Under the amnesty laws military officers suspected of atrocities in the so-called Dirty War- a campaign waged by Argentina's military rulers against left-wing opponents could not be prosecuted. About 3,000 military officers -300 of whom still serve in the Armed Forces - could be accused, according to human rights groups.

Ahead of the ruling, Argentine Defence Minister Jose Pampuro said some officers were anxious pending the outcome. "In a personal capacity, some men who might be involved in some situation are expressing worry".

The ruling came in connection with a specific case first referred to the Court over three years ago, involving the 1978 abduction and killing of a Chilean-Argentine couple and the subsequent illegal adoption of their daughter.

With this long-awaited decision, the Justices upheld a series of lower-court decisions going back to March 2001 that questioned the validity of the two amnesty laws passed by Congress during the 1980s under pressure from the Argentine armed forces.

Argentina's human rights campaigners, who have long criticized the amnesty laws as unconstitutional, hailed the Supreme Court ruling as a decisive contribution to ending impunity in the country.

The two amnesty bills were enacted in 1986/87 under the administration of Raul Alfonsin, the first democratically elected president after the end of military rule in 1983, who suffered permanent pressure and uprisings by Armed Forces units angry with Dirty War prosecutions.

The 1976/83 military regime is blamed for the capture and summary execution of anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 suspected subversives. Many of the remains were never found since they were buried in unmarked graves, incinerated or simply dumped into the Atlantic Ocean from military aircrafts.