Covering events from January-December 2001

Argentine Republic
Head of state and government: Fernando de la Rúa was replaced in the last two weeks of December successively by Provisional Presidents Ramón Puerta, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá and Eduardo Camaño
Capital: Buenos Aires
Population: 37.5 million
Official language: Spanish
Death penalty: abolitionist for ordinary crimes
2001 treaty ratifications/signatures: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

There were numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by law enforcement and prison officers. Dozens of killings by police in disputed circumstances were reported. Important judicial decisions were made regarding past human rights violations, including those linked to "Operation Condor". Lawyers and human rights defenders were threatened and attacked.

Demonstrations

The political situation was dominated by civil unrest over government economic policies and attempts to restructure the economy. Public opposition to spending cuts triggered protests in Buenos Aires and around the country. Scores of demonstrators, including trade unionists and community leaders, were arrested. Some were charged and several alleged that they were tortured by members of the security forces.

In June, two people, including a minor, were killed and an unconfirmed number of people injured during violent confrontations between demonstrators and members of the Gendarmeria Nacional in the locality of General Mosconi, Salta Province. In July, a federal judge requested disciplinary proceedings against Mara Graciela Puntano, a lawyer acting on behalf of those arrested and allegedly tortured by members of the Gendarmeria Nacional. She had made a statement to the press about irregularities in the judicial investigation into these incidents and into the killing of Anibal Verón during a demonstration in 2000.

In December, demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people took place across the country as a result of the economic crisis. A state of siege was imposed for four days and hundreds of demonstrators were arrested. Over 30 people were killed during the demonstrations and there were reports of excessive use of force by the security forces. The crisis resulted in a change of administration.

Ill-treatment and torture

There were widespread reports of the torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including minors, in prisons and police stations. In August members of the judiciary published a declaration expressing their concern at the generalized and systematic use of torture during police investigations and the general treatment of detainees. The declaration also pointed out the lack of action by the judicial authorities in applying appropriate measures to prevent and punish torture.

In a separate resolution submitted to the judicial authorities, the Buenos Aires Province Appeal Court Defender recorded over 600 cases of torture in police stations and prisons between March 2000 and June 2001. Methods of torture included beatings, near-asphyxiation and electric shocks. The resolution also highlighted severe overcrowding, appalling sanitary conditions and obstruction of detainees' right of defence by members of the Buenos Aires Province Penitentiary Service.

Police violence and killings

Reports of killings by police officers in disputed circumstances continued to be received. In October, the Provincial Supreme Court issued a resolution which stated that at least 60 minors were killed by police in Buenos Aires Province between 1999 and 2000. Many of those killed had made complaints of threats or ill-treatment by members of the police. According to the non-governmental human rights organization Coordinadora Contra la Represión Policial e Institucional (Correpi), Association against Police and Institutional Repression, 60 people, including 14 minors, were killed between January and August 2001 by police. Relatives of victims campaigning for truth and justice were intimidated and threatened.

Past human rights violations

In September, the Under-Secretary for Human Rights publicly acknowledged that 15,000 people had "disappeared" during the military government (1976 to 1983).

During 2001, legal proceedings to clarify the fate of victims of "disappearances" and to bring those responsible to justice continued in Argentina and abroad. A number of important positive judicial decisions were made.

In a landmark decision, Federal Judge Gabriel Cavallo ruled in March that the Full Stop and Due Obedience laws, which granted immunity from prosecution for human rights violations committed under the military government, were unconstitutional and void. His ruling related to criminal prosecutions regarding the "disappearance" in 1978 of José Liborio Poblete Roa, his wife, Gertrudis Marta Hlaczik, and their daughter. In November, the Federal Appeals Court upheld the decision.

In June and July, a federal judge issued three judicial decisions indicting and requesting the arrest of a number of former members of the armed forces of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay for their involvement in a criminal plan characterized by a systematic pattern of forced disappearances known as "Operation Condor". In his decision the judge ordered the trial and preventive arrest of Jorge Rafael Videla. At the end of the year Jorge Rafael Videla was held under house arrest in connection with a case involving the kidnapping of children. The judge also requested the provisional arrest, pending requests for extradition, of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet. In December, in a separate decision, the judge requested the provisional arrest pending requests for extradition of the former Bolivian President, Hugo Banzer Suárez.

Germany

In July, the Nuremberg prosecutor in Germany issued an international warrant for the arrest of former General Carlos Guillermo Suárez Mason and in October his extradition was requested for the suspected murder of Elisabeth Kasemann, a German national who was kidnapped and "disappeared" in Buenos Aires in March 1977.

However, in December, a presidential decree was issued stating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would reject all requests for extradition related to events that took place in Argentina.

Spain

In August, Claudio Scagliuzzi, a former member of the Argentine army intelligence service was arrested in Barcelona, Spain. His arrest pending extradition had been requested by an Argentine judge in the context of the investigation of "disappearances" that took place as part of "Operation Condor".

Human rights defenders threatened

Human rights lawyers in Mendoza Province representing families of victims of human rights violations and human rights activists in a number of provinces were subjected to further intimidation and attacks.

AI country reports/visits

Reports

  • Argentina: Amicus Curiae brief on the incompatibility with international law of the Full Stop and Due Obedience Laws (AI Index: AMR 13/012/2001)
  • Argentina: Vanessa Lorena Ledesma and repeated threats to other transvestites in the Province of Córdoba (AI Index: AMR 13/015/2001)

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