ARGENTINA: FORMER POLICE CHAPLAIN CHRISTIAN VON WERNICH GIVEN LIFE SENTENCE FOR DIRTY WAR CRIMES.
Catholic priest Christian von Wernich received a sentence of life imprisonment on Oct. 9 after a federal criminal court in the city of La Plata found him guilty of "human rights crimes committed during a genocide." Von Wernich, chaplain of the Buenos Aires police department during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, was found guilty of complicity in seven murders, 42 kidnappings and disappearances, and 31 counts of torture. Argentine daily newspaper Clarin reported that the decision was historic, making von Wernich the first priest from the Catholic Church to be convicted for crimes committed during the military regime.
President, rights groups celebrate sentence
Hundreds of people beat drums and set off fireworks outside the federal courthouse after the verdict was announced. Dozens of spectators cheered inside the packed courtroom, including headscarved members of the human rights group Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who for the last 30 years have been seeking to learn the fate of sons and daughters who disappeared during a crackdown on dissent.
"At last, at last! My God, it's a conviction!" said Tati Almeyda, of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo Linea Fundadora. "We never thought we'd see this day. Justice has been served."
Along with human rights organizations cheering the sentence, President Nestor Kirchner called the decision "exemplary."
Von Wernich earlier in the day professed his innocence, saying, "False testimony is of the devil because he is responsible for malice and is the father of evil and lies."
On Oct. 8, a prosecutor recommended a life sentence for von Wernich, 69, saying survivors had linked the priest to at least five clandestine detention camps in Buenos Aires province. "Do people really understand what a clandestine torture center was? Do people know all the terror that went on in those places?" prosecutor Carlos Dulau asked.
During the months of trial, more than 70 witnesses testified and judges toured former torture centers at police stations with survivors. The dirty war officially left some 13,000 dead or missing, although human rights groups have put the toll at nearly 30,000.
Defense lawyer Juan Martin Cerolini argued that von Wernich, as a priest, was obliged to visit police detention centers as part of his duties. But Cerolini insisted that role did not mean von Wernich had any part in the state crackdown.
Cerolini rejected survivors' testimony suggesting von Wernich--who wore a bulletproof vest over his clerical shirt...
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