MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Argentine leader charged with riot killings in 2001

The former Argentine Pte. De la Rúa the men identified with the 2001/02 crisis

A federal judge charged former Argentine president Fernando de la Rua with five counts of manslaughter Tuesday in connection with bloody street riots in December 2001 when his administration collapsed plunging Argentina to its most serious economic meltdown in recent times.

Judge Claudio Bonadio said the former president is also being prosecuted, (which does not amount to a formal indictment) on charges stemming from injuries to 172 other people during street clashes between demonstrators and police that year. It was the first time a current or former democratically elected Argentine president has faced charges for the conduct of security forces under his oversight. De la Rua, who took office in 1999, declared a state of siege as thousands of Argentines took to the streets to demand his resignation. Judge Bonadio did not call for the preventive arrest of De la Rua, but established bail of some 6.3 million dollars. If found guilty, the former president could face a jail term of up to 10 years, although he would only have to serve under house arrest because he is over 70. De la Rua resigned in December 2001, halfway through an elected four-year term as Argentina suffered one of the worst economic collapses in recent its history, with a sharp devaluation of its currency, banks deposits freeze and a record 100 billion US dollars debt default. The turmoil forced De la Rua to resign and he later fled Argentina's presidential palace in a helicopter. At least 30 people were reported killed nationwide in street riots during December that year. A text of the case document says De la Rua "did not use the tools" available to him as head of state to prevent the bloodshed. The judge has already filed similar charges against de la Rua's former security chief, and seven former federal police officers. Fernando Chironi, a member of Congress with de la Rua's opposition Radical Party, said the former president could not be held liable under the criminal code for violent events that spun out of control. ''He was not directly responsible for those who acted below him,'' Chironi said, referring to police and state security agents. Following De la Rúa's resignation, the Argentine Congress after several short lived interim heads of state, voted in the strong Peronist Leader, Eduardo Duhalde who took office as caretaker president until 2003 when new elections were convened. Current president Nestor Kirchner was voted in the run off when the winner of the first round, Carlos Menem did not present himself fearing a landslide defeat.