By Staff, UPI via The Argentina Independent | MSN Noticias. The Federal Court of Mar del Plata, Argentina, handed out convictions to 14 retired Argentine military and police officers. Six of these were life sentences to the retired officers, including former General Alfredo Arrillaga, for crimes against humanity during the last dictatorship.
Continue reading →By Marcela Valente, IPS | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. More than 600 businesspeople lost their properties to the Argentina dictatorship of 1976 to 1983. “they took everything we had, our seven companies and the company plane. And it’s a miracle they didn’t kill us,” says Alejandro Iaccarino, a prosperous dairy industry businessman during the 1970s who is suing for millions of dollars in reparations.
Continue reading →By Linda Melvern, Liberation | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Belgian peacekeeper Yves Teyssier testified that the night before the April 6, 1994 attack he was blocked by the Rwandan army from entering the Camp Kanombe area, and the next day he heard a UN colleague’s voice report on UN radio that two missiles were fired at president Habyarimana’s plane from the camp. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Marcela Valente, IPS | Staff, Cuba Debate. The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo are finally getting heard in court after 35 years of demanding their stolen grandchildren. Eight former officials of the brutal Argentinian dictatorship that began on March 24, 1976 and lasted 7 years, are accused of “taking, retaining, hiding and changing the identities of” 34 children born to political prisoners held in clandestine prisons during the dictatorship. UPDATE on Mar 27th: Closing arguments. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Fabiana Frayssinet, IPS | Colin M. Snider, Americas South and North. In the first serious move by Brazil to confront the horrors of its junta years, Transitional Justice plans to prosecute the forced disappearances during the 1964-1985 dictatorship. Brazilian federal prosecutors announced they would first try retired Col. Sebastião Curió Rodrigues de Moura for aggravated kidnapping for his alleged role in five enforced disappearances in Pará state in 1974. (English | Spanish | Portuguese)
Continue reading →By Staff (sc/jg/jsr/mgt/jf), Prensa Latina | By Rachel Rickard Straus, Daily Mail. Pedro Pimentel, a former instructor of an elite Guatemalan military force called kaibiles, extradited from the US last July, has been sentenced to 6,060 years in prison for his role in killing 201 indigenous people in the Dos Erres massacre of December 6 to 8, 1982.
Continue reading →By Joseph Yoldi and Julio M. Lazaro, El Pais | Translated from the Spanish by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. By a vote of 6 to 1, Spain’s Supreme Court acquitted ex-Judge Baltasar Garzon of the charge of overstepping his jurisdiction while trying to open an investigation into Franco-era fascist crimes. The court held, however, that Garzon had misinterpreted the Spanish amnesty law as being like those of South America. Another case against Garzon, alleging his corruption was dismissed. The decision to disbar him remains in effect. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By José Yoldi and Julio M. Lázaro, El Pais | Translated by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Wikipedia. As people protested outside the Criminal Chamber of the National Court in Spain, a group of partisan judges allied to Spain’s ruling conservative Partido Popular (PP) unanimously condemned Judge Baltasar Garzón to 11 years of disbarment for ordering the recording of conversations of the ringleaders of the corrupt Gürtel group connected to the PP.
Continue reading →By Mujib Mashal and Staff, Al Jazeera. Khmer Rouge chief jailer and torturer Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, escaped justice for over 30 years by hiding out as a Christian aid worker. On Feb 3, 2012, the 69-year old Duch was sentenced to life imprisonment after he appealed a 30-year sentence because he had only “respectfully and strictly followed the orders.” He is the first person to be brought to justice for the killing-field atrocities.
Continue reading →By Danilo Valladares, IPS. A Guatemalan court has ordered former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. If convicted, he faces 30 years in prison. Hopefully the members of the army who perpetrated the crimes will also be brought to justice. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Today Investigative Magistrate Carves Jean ruled that former dictator Jean Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc to his friends) should not be tried for human rights violations but, rather, for corruption and the misappropriation of public funds. Every human rights organization is crying fowl and blaming the decision on “politics!” I blame it on Facebook friendships. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Frederico Garcia Lorca, Casa Poema, Kempis, Everything2 | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Frederico García Lorca, one of the greatest poets and playwrights in the Spanish language, became Franco’s most famous victim at the start of the Spanish Civil War. Lorca’s remains might be in one of the unmarked graves that Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered exhumed as part of his probe into Spain’s fascist era. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Robert Bosschart, Radio Netherlands. More than anything, Judge Baltasar Garzon is paying the price for seeking to uncover a vast corruption ring (the so-called Gurtel case) within a Conservative party that embezzled millions during its previous administration and has just returned to power.
Continue reading →By Staff (rc), AlterPresse | Editorial comment and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. While Martelly talks politely about puting the idea of a new Haitian Armed Forces to various reviews, groups of bandits calling themselves Former Soldiers Demobilized are doing military training exercises throughout the country. (English | French)
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