View source for Trial of the Juntas

{{Short description|1985 judicial trial in Argentina}}
{{morefootnotes|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
[[File:Juicio a las Juntas.jpg|thumb|Trial of the military juntas on April 22, 1985; the accused military officers enter the courtroom.]]
{{History of Argentina}}
{{Operation Condor}}
The '''Trial of the Juntas''' ({{langx|es|Juicio a las Juntas}}) was the judicial trial of the members of the ''[[de facto]]'' military government that ruled [[Argentina]] during the dictatorship of the ''[[Proceso de Reorganización Nacional]]'' (''el Proceso''), which lasted from 1976 to 1983.
It is so far the only example of such a large scale procedure by a democratic government against a former dictatorial government of the same country in Latin America.

The Trial of the Juntas began on 22 April 1985, during the presidential administration of [[Raúl Alfonsín]], the first elected government after the restoration of democracy in 1983. The main prosecutors were [[Julio César Strassera]] and his assistant [[Luis Moreno Ocampo]] (who would go on to become the first Chief Prosecutor of the [[International Criminal Court]]). The trial was presided over by a tribunal of six judges: [[León Arslanián]], Jorge Torlasco, [[Ricardo Gil Lavedra]], Andrés D'Alessio, Jorge Valerga Aráoz, and Guillermo Ledesma.

Those on trial were: [[Jorge Rafael Videla]], [[Emilio Eduardo Massera]], [[Roberto Eduardo Viola]], [[Armando Lambruschini]], [[Orlando Ramón Agosti]], [[Omar Graffigna]], [[Leopoldo Galtieri]], [[Jorge Anaya]] and [[Basilio Lami Dozo]].

==Background==
{{further|National Reorganization Process|Dirty War}}
The dictatorship was a series of several military governments under four [[military junta]]s. The fourth junta, before calling for elections and relinquishing power to the democratic authorities, enacted a [[Impunity laws (Argentina)|Self-Amnesty Law]] on April 18, 1983, as well as a secret decree that ordered the destruction of records and other evidence of their past crimes.

==Preparation==
Three days after his inauguration, on 13 December 1983, President Alfonsín signed Decree No. 158, which mandated the initiation of legal proceedings against the nine military officers of the first three juntas, but not the fourth (ruled by General [[Reynaldo Bignone]]). The [[National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons]] was established two days later to collect testimonies from thousands of witnesses, and presented 8,960 cases of [[Enforced disappearance|forced disappearances]] to the president on 20 September 1984. Following the refusal of a [[military court]] to try former junta members, Alfonsín established a National Criminal Court of Appeals for the purpose on 14 October.

==Proceedings==
{{further|Julio César Strassera#Trial of the Juntas}}

This trial, which officially began on 22 April 1985, is so far the only example of such a large scale procedure by a democratic government against a former dictatorial government of the same country in [[Latin America]]. It was the first major trial held for war crimes since the [[Nüremberg Trials]] in Germany and the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] in Tokyo following World War II, and the first to be conducted by a civilian court. It succeeded in prosecuting the crimes of the juntas, which included kidnapping, [[torture]], [[forced disappearance]], and [[murder]] of an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 people during what was called the [[Dirty War]] against political dissidents. Opposition to the trial was largely limited to critical commentary by politicians, lawyers, and media figures sympathetic to the dictatorship. Some protest became violent: during the [[sentence (law)|sentencing]] phase of the trial, 29 bomb threats were made to several Buenos Aires schools, and a number of bombs were detonated in key government installations, including the [[Libertador Building|Ministry of Defense]].  On October 25, President Alfonsín declared a 60-day [[state of emergency]].<ref>[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/LATINOAMERICA/ARGENTINA/Alfonsin/decreta/estado/sitio/Argentina/dias/elpepiint/19851026elpepiint_10/Tes "Alfonsin decreta estado sitio"], ''El País'' (26 Oct 1985) {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Prosecutors presented 709 cases, of which 280 were heard. A total of 833 witnesses testified during the [[cross-examination]] phase, which lasted until 14 August. Witnesses included former President [[Alejandro Lanusse]], writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]], [[Estela Barnes de Carlotto]], President of [[Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo]]; "[[Night of the Pencils]]" survivor Pablo Díaz; [[Patricia M. Derian]], [[Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights]] in the [[Carter Administration]]; Dutch jurist [[Theo van Boven]], and renowned [[forensic]] [[anthropologist]] [[Clyde Snow]].<ref name=mas>Ciancaglini, Sergio, and Granovsky, Martín. ''Nada más que la verdad: el juicio a las juntas''] (Nothing more than the truth: the trial of the juntas), ''Buenos Aires: Planeta'', 1995.</ref>

Closing arguments were heard on September 18. Chief prosecutor Strassera concluded by declaring that:
 
{{quote|I wish to waive any claim to originality in closing this indictment. I wish to use a phrase that is not my own, because it already belongs to all the Argentine people. Your Honors: Never again! ''(¡Nunca más!)'' <ref name=mas/>|sign=|source=}}

<gallery class="center" widths="300px" heights="270px">
File:NUNCA MAS.ogv|Chief Prosecutor Julio César Strassera reads closing arguments.
</gallery>

==Sentencing==
Sentencing was read on 9 December: General [[Jorge Videla]] and Admiral [[Emilio Massera]] were sentenced to [[life imprisonment]], General [[Roberto Viola]]: seventeen years, Admiral [[Armando Lambruschini]]: eight years, General [[Orlando Ramón Agosti|Orlando Agosti]]: four and a half years.

[[Omar Graffigna]], [[Leopoldo Galtieri]], [[Jorge Anaya]] and [[Basilio Lami Dozo]] were acquitted, though the latter three were concomitantly [[court martial]]ed for malfeasance in waging the [[Falklands War]] of 1982. Charges against 600 others were brought to court, but these lawsuits were hampered by the [[Full Stop Law]] of 1986, which limited suits to those indicted within 60 days of the law's enactment, and the [[Law of Due Obedience]] of 1987, which effectively halted most remaining trials of Dirty War perpetrators.

==Aftermath==
Between 1989 and 1990, President [[Carlos Menem]] pardoned the men who had been sentenced or court-martialed. President [[Néstor Kirchner]] obtained an [[Argentine Supreme Court]] ruling permitting [[extradition]]s in cases of [[crimes against humanity]] in 2003, and that same year the Congress repealed the Full Stop Law. In 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that the 1986 and 1987 laws shielding officers accused of crimes were unconstitutional.<ref>[http://m24digital.com/en/2010/10/28/major-events-in-the-life-of-nestor-kirchner/ "Major events in the life of Nestor Kirchner"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321050143/http://m24digital.com/en/2010/10/28/major-events-in-the-life-of-nestor-kirchner/ |date=2011-03-21 }}, ''M24'' {{in lang|es}}</ref>

On 6 September 2006, Judge Norberto Oyarbide ruled that the pardons granted by President Menem were unconstitutional.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sturcke |first=James |date=2006-09-05 |title=Former Argentinian ministers lose criminal amnesties |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/05/argentina.jamessturcke |access-date=2023-10-02 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> On 25 April 2007, a federal court struck down [[Jorge Rafael Videla|Videla's]] presidential pardon and restored his convictions for human rights abuses.

In 2006, the government tried [[Miguel Etchecolatz]], the first to be prosecuted of potentially 600 defendants. Witnesses and the judges were threatened, and immediately after the sentencing, [[Julio Jorge López]] disappeared. A victim of state violence and witness for the prosecution, he was feared dead and has never been found.<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/argentina/report-2010 Amnesty International: Argentina (2010)]</ref>

==Archives==
The original video tapes of the trial have been in [[Norway]] since 1988. All of the Trial's judges traveled to [[Oslo]] on April 25 of that year with 147 [[VHS]] tapes which were given to the [[Storting|Norwegian Parliament]] in order to keep them safe and avoid any commercial use.<ref>[http://www.pagina12.com.ar/2000/00-01/00-01-25/pag08b.htm NORUEGA CONSERVA LOS TAPES DEL JUICIO A LAS JUNTAS]</ref> They are kept next to the original text of the [[Constitution of Norway]].<ref>[http://www.clarin.com/opinion/testimonios-Juicio-Juntas_0_344965669.html Aquellos testimonios del Juicio a las Juntas]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ley de Obediencia Debida]]
*[[Ley de Punto Final]]
*[[Carapintadas|Carapintada]]s
*[[National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons|CONADEP]]
*[[Greek junta trials]]
*''[[Argentina, 1985]]'', a film about the trial

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.desaparecidos.org/arg/doc/secretos/orden02.htm Decree No. 158] - Presidential decree that mandated the prosecution of the juntas.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060509111405/http://www.fcen.uba.ar/publicac/revexact/exacta16/entreve.htm Interview] with Julio César Strassera.
* Clarín, 2005-12-09. [http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/12/09/um/m-01104962.htm ''Un revelador documental recordó el histórico juicio a las Juntas.'']

{{Argentina topics}}
{{Radical Civic Union}}
{{Raúl Alfonsín}}

[[Category:1985 in Argentina]]
[[Category:1985 in case law]]
[[Category:1980s trials]]
[[Category:Presidency of Raúl Alfonsín]]
[[Category:Legal history of Argentina]]
[[Category:Dirty War]]
[[Category:Trials in Argentina]]
[[Category:Trials of political people]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]