Carlos Menem

ARGENTINA: FORMER NAVAL COMMANDER ASTIZ PLACED IN CUSTODY UPDATE

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Spanish/Nat Carlos Menem the Argentinean president, placed former naval commander Alfredo Astiz in custody on Thursday for confessions linked to murder and torture during the country's so-called Dirty War. Astiz provoked outrage after an unrepentant interview this week in which he admitted murder and torture had been used during the 1976- 1983 military dictatorship. His confessions published in a magazine triggered fierce condemnation from campaigners still seeking information on the thousands who have disappeared. Argentina's bloody past remains an open wound which, on Thursday, erupted once again with the confessions of a former naval commander. Alfredo Astiz's open admission in a magazine interview that methods of torture and execution had been used during Argentina's Dirty War, brought demonstrators once more onto the streets of Buenos Aires. The organisation Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, still clamouring for information on the fate of their loved ones lost during the 1978-1983 military dictatorship, turned out in force. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) (Man in suit: "This is the man in charge of (Government House) mail.") "I wish to hand over a letter to Government House. If I don't have, as a normal citizen, the right to deliver a letter to Government House I will protest strongly. Right here in this very street." SUPER CAPTION: Hebe de Bonafini, President of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo 47 year old Astiz has been put into custody on the orders of the Argentinean president, Carlos Menem, for 60 days. Astiz remains unrepentant about his confessions of murder and torture. The demonstrators demanded further details following his statements. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "Why do the armed forces have 500-thousand men prepared to kill? Who are the people in this group? Who trained them and where and with what objectives? Who are the aforementioned men going to kill? With what objectives and under which directives did which members of the armed forces support Astiz? Why does the Argentinean navy under his (President Menem's) orders go on protecting Astiz." SUPER CAPTION: Hebe de Bonafini, President of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo For many in Argentina, Astiz symbolises the repression of Argentina's military regime. His role in the Dirty War allegedly led to the death of thousands of leftist dissidents. Astiz has also been accused of contributing to the deaths of two French nuns and the Argentine-Swedish teenager, Dagmar Hagelin, who vanished in 1977. Astiz denied the allegations but was jailed for life in absentia by a French court for the murders of nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet. Astiz was forced to retire from the navy in 1996 under pressure from the French government. In the interview he also noted that leftist guerrillas captured by security forces in 1973 had been pardoned and freed. In 1983, a government commission determined that approximately 9,000 people were arrested or kidnapped and subsequently disappeared during the dirty war. Astiz was among lower and middle-ranking officers granted immunity from prosecution in 1987 for human rights abuses during the Dirty War. Half a dozen high-ranking officers, including two former presidents, were convicted of murder and torture in 1983 and were sentenced to prison. Interior Minister Carlos Corach described the comments attributed to Astiz as "terrifying" and said he would ask Argentina's attorney general to determine whether charges could be brought based on the interview. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9061f6e51a00fe104ab9633c7dc6ca90 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork