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Argentine priest in Dirty War trial
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by Tim Murphy
Al Jazeera English - Jul 6, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C55DE96A-3911-4F3E-A28E-29652C29D1EF.htm
Argentine priest in Dirty War trial
A Roman Catholic priest has gone on trial in Argentina charged with
involvement in kidnappings, murder and torture while the country was
under military rule from 1976 to 1983.
Heavy security surrounded the courthouse in La Plata as the trial got
under way on Thursday, with defendant Christian Von Wernich wearing a
bullet-proof vest.
The Roman Catholic priest is charged with participating in seven
murders, 42 kidnappings, and 31 cases of torture while he was chaplain
to the Buenos Aires police force.
He is accused of using his religious position to obtain confessions from
prisoners who were held at secret detention centres.
The case has raised questions about the church's role during Argentina's
so-called Dirty War and although Von Wernich is the first priest to face
trial for crimes, about 20 others are alleged to have worked with the
military government.
"Von Wernich would visit prisoners after horrific torture sessions and
asked them to trust him, to give him information in exchange for an
improvement in the conditions of their detention," Carlos Zaidman, a
survivor of one of the detention camps, said.
The prosecution said, in a statement read to the court, that: "Von
Wernich participated assiduously and maintained direct contacts with
the detainees" and was fully complicit in the crimes committed by the
state.
'Disappeared'
The trial was attended by dozens of relatives of victims of the military
government, including members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo group
whose children are among the 30,000 people who "disappeared".
About 200 protesters outside the court could be heard shouting
"assassin" as the trial got under way.
The government has pledged to guarantee the safety of the 126 witnesses
expected to give evidence, among them a Roman Catholic bishop and Adolfo
Perez Esquivel, a sculptor and human rights advocate who was awarded the
Nobel peace prize in 1980.
Last year, during the trial of a former police investigator on genocide
charges, the chief prosecution witness, a torture survivor called Jorge
Julio Lopez, disappeared and is still missing.
"It must be clear that the Church is not on trial, but that the role
played by its hierarchy during the dictatorship will be shown,"
Guadalupe Godoy, a lawyer representing some of the victims, said.
After Argentina returned to civilian rule in 1983, Von Wernich moved to
a small parish 250km from Buenos Aires before heading to Chile where he
worked as a priest under a false name.
He was extradited to Argentina and arrested in 2003 after amnesty laws
passed at the end of the dictatorship were declared unconstitutional.
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
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================================================================
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Hash: SHA1
Argentine priest in Dirty War trial
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by Tim Murphy
Al Jazeera English - Jul 6, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C55DE96A-3911-4F3E-A28E-29652C29D1EF.htm
Argentine priest in Dirty War trial
A Roman Catholic priest has gone on trial in Argentina charged with
involvement in kidnappings, murder and torture while the country was
under military rule from 1976 to 1983.
Heavy security surrounded the courthouse in La Plata as the trial got
under way on Thursday, with defendant Christian Von Wernich wearing a
bullet-proof vest.
The Roman Catholic priest is charged with participating in seven
murders, 42 kidnappings, and 31 cases of torture while he was chaplain
to the Buenos Aires police force.
He is accused of using his religious position to obtain confessions from
prisoners who were held at secret detention centres.
The case has raised questions about the church's role during Argentina's
so-called Dirty War and although Von Wernich is the first priest to face
trial for crimes, about 20 others are alleged to have worked with the
military government.
"Von Wernich would visit prisoners after horrific torture sessions and
asked them to trust him, to give him information in exchange for an
improvement in the conditions of their detention," Carlos Zaidman, a
survivor of one of the detention camps, said.
The prosecution said, in a statement read to the court, that: "Von
Wernich participated assiduously and maintained direct contacts with
the detainees" and was fully complicit in the crimes committed by the
state.
'Disappeared'
The trial was attended by dozens of relatives of victims of the military
government, including members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo group
whose children are among the 30,000 people who "disappeared".
About 200 protesters outside the court could be heard shouting
"assassin" as the trial got under way.
The government has pledged to guarantee the safety of the 126 witnesses
expected to give evidence, among them a Roman Catholic bishop and Adolfo
Perez Esquivel, a sculptor and human rights advocate who was awarded the
Nobel peace prize in 1980.
Last year, during the trial of a former police investigator on genocide
charges, the chief prosecution witness, a torture survivor called Jorge
Julio Lopez, disappeared and is still missing.
"It must be clear that the Church is not on trial, but that the role
played by its hierarchy during the dictatorship will be shown,"
Guadalupe Godoy, a lawyer representing some of the victims, said.
After Argentina returned to civilian rule in 1983, Von Wernich moved to
a small parish 250km from Buenos Aires before heading to Chile where he
worked as a priest under a false name.
He was extradited to Argentina and arrested in 2003 after amnesty laws
passed at the end of the dictatorship were declared unconstitutional.
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
Support this work, visit our sponsor http://www.blythe-systems.com
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
================================================================
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