Dokument #1140288
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Various reports indicate that the 1987 laws
that limited prosecution for human rights abuses committed during
the last military regime (1976-1983) exonerated all except the
military commanders who led the repression, and that the 1990
presidential pardon exonerated from further imprisonment all jailed
commanders. No reports of an amnesty or pardon passed in 1996 for
military perpetrators of abuses during the last military regime
could be found among the sources consulted by the Research
Directorate. As one report explains, the 1987 "law of 'due
obedience' let members of the military who were simply 'following
orders' off the hook, while the law of 'punto final' set a 30-day
deadlines for the courts to close all cases against former
repressors" (IPS 25 Mar. 1998). It adds that the convicted heads of
the military regime "were later pardoned by President Menem after
serving five years" (ibid.). A more recent article reported the
imprisonment of a naval sub-officer in 1999 on charges of child
abduction, reportedly a crime not covered by the pardon and amnesty
laws, bringing to nine the number of military officers of the last
regime detained, including three generals and three admirals, a
former ship captain and a former naval prefect; another admiral was
released after being detained (AFP 16 Mar. 1999).
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below the
list of sources consulted in researching this information
request.
References
Agence France Presse (AFP). 19 March
1999. Didiere Lapeyronie. "La victoire la plus significative des
'grands-mères de la place de Mai'." (NEXIS)
Inter Press Service (IPS). 25 March
1998. Marcela Valente. "Rights3/4Argentina: Dissatisfaction With
Repeal of Amnesty Laws." (NEXIS)
Additional Sources Consulted
Latin American Regional Reports:
Southern Cone Report [London]. 1996.
Latinamerica Press [Lima].
1996.
Electronic sources: IRB Databases,
REFWORLD, Internet, WNC.
Note:
This list is not exhaustive. It does not
include country-specific publications available at the Resource
Centre.