Twenty five years for Argentina’s last dictator

Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s last de facto ruler, spent his first night in prison yesterday after being found guilty of crimes committed during the dictatorship.

Bignone, 82, was the country’s last military ruler before the return to democracy in 1983. A Buenos Aires court found him guilty of human rights abuses committed in 1977 at the Campo de Mayo, one of the largest torture centres during the dictatorship.

During the trial, a frail looking Bignone, who had his house arrest overturned by judge Marta Milloc, had questioned the figure of 30,000 people killed during the military junta and denied the systematic adoption of babies by military personal in what he called an “irregular war”.

The tribunal found Bignone guilty of 11 forced entries, 6 robberies, 44 abductions and 8 acts of torture. Five other former military officers received sentences between 17 and 25 years. A former police official was absolved.

Around 400 members of the public had been present at the trial, silently holding black and white photos of disappeared family members above their heads. When the verdict was read out, applause broke out.

“My father would have been very happy because justice has been carried out,” said Francisco Scaraptti whose father survived the Campo de Mayo and reported the horrors of what happened there to the world. He died before seeing Bignone and his co-accused brought to justice.

Five thousand people are estimated to have passed through the Campo de Mayo.

Bignone inherited the presidency from Raúl Alfonsin, ruling from the aftermath of the 1982 Falklands war until December 1983.

During his tenure, Bignone gave an order to destroy the armed forces’ archives in a bid to cover up crimes committed by the military. 

More than 1,400 people are accused of crimes during the last dictatorship that ran between 1976 and 1983, according to the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales.

Citing legal delays and reports of corrupt judges, a recent article in the left-leaning daily Página 12 said it would take 30 years to bring to justice all those implicated in the dictatorship.

During the final military junta up to 30,000 people were abducted, tortured and murdered and as many as 500 children taken from their families.