[Ppnews] Human Rights in Argentina: A Year Without Julio Lopez

[Political Prisoner News]

<http://upsidedownworld.org/main/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=898&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=1>Human 
Rights in Argentina: A Year Without Julio Lopez

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/898/1/
Written by Marie Trigona
Tuesday, 18 September 2007

Human Rights groups in Argentina rallied September 18 to mark the one 
year disappearance of a key witness who helped convict a former 
police officer for life in 2006. Rights representatives have 
expressed immediate concerns over 
<http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3595/>missing witness Julio Lopez; 
a new name that has been inscribed on the doleful roll call of 
Argentina's disappeared. From the final courtroom proceedings to the 
search for the disappeared witness, this is a look at the events of 
the past year.

"The Federal Criminal Court number 1 in La Plata, orders the 
following sentence. The court sentences Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz to 
life in prison." As judge Carlos Rozanski read the sentence, 
Etchecolatz kissed a crucifix. Several spectators threw red paint on 
him as he was escorted out of the courtroom. Human rights activists 
and relatives of the disappeared celebrated the verdict while 
embracing each other inside and outside the court room in La Plata,

Julio Lopez, went missing exactly a year ago, on the eve of the land 
mark conviction of Miguel Etchecolatz, the first military officer to 
be sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity and 
genocide committed during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Lopez 
was last seen walking near his home in La Plata, about 40 miles from 
Buenos Aires.

Lopez's testimony of his detention as a political prisoner from 
1976-1979 in clandestine detention centers was key in the conviction 
of Etchecolatz. Testifying before a court in La Plata, Lopez 
described the prolonged bouts of torture under Etchecolatz's direct 
supervision.  "That day they electrocuted me with the electric prod 
using a lower voltage.  The electric prod had a battery, so I 
couldn't feel it as much. 'Now you're going to feel it,' he said to 
me. He gave an order to the others: 'Hook the electric prod up 
directly to the street line,' he said. Etchecolatz said this. Mr. Etchecolatz."

Since Lopez's disappearance, little headway has been made in the 
investigation of his whereabouts. Much of the evidence recently 
released has been tracked to the federal prison where Etchecolatz and 
another 100 military officers are imprisoned. Phone calls from the 
prison and note's from Etchecolatz's personal agenda lead to a clear 
trail that Lopez was under surveillance in the days leading up to his 
kidnapping.

At a press conference, Myriam Bergman, human rights lawyer handling 
the case of Lopez's disappearance, SAYS she worries that much of the 
evidence has been filtered to protect the kidnappers.  "A year has 
gone by since Julio was kidnapped and the disappearance of the 
comrade and there's still no one under investigation in the case. 
Human rights organizations have given the only serious tip offs being 
investigated. The investigators have waited months to investigate 
them. They allowed the suspects under investigation to know they were 
being investigated."

Human rights groups are pointing to Etchecolatz and other military 
officers currently jailed in the V.I.P. Marcos Paz Federal prison 
while facing trial for human rights crimes. For Margarita Cruz, a 
torture survivor from the northern province of Tucuman, Julio Lopez's 
disappearance is a sign of the long standing impunity for military 
personnel who killed an estimated 30,000 people during the military 
junta's reign of terror.

"A year since Julio was disappeared, it's certain that impunity in 
the country is alive and well. All of the work of human rights 
organizations on each of the anniversaries, each month since Julio's 
disappearance, is going to bring change. That's what we hope, we are 
calling for a massive march, to demand real answers to the 
whereabouts of Julio Lopez."

In total, 256 former military personnel and members of the military 
government have been accused of human rights crimes and are now 
awaiting trial. But only three trials have been held since 
Argentina's Supreme Court struck down amnesty laws in 2005 protecting 
military personnel who served during the seven-year dictatorship. 
Human rights groups in Argentina report that the trials to convict 
former members of the military dictatorship for abuses have advanced 
at a snails pace, if advancing at all. Victims blame an inefficient 
court system filled with structural roadblocks and uncooperative judges.

Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and filmmaker based in 
Argentina. She can be reached at 
<mailto:mtrigona at msn.com>mtrigona at msn.com http://mujereslibres.blogspot.com/

To listen to this radio story visit, 
<http://www.fsrn.org/>www.fsrn.org. For videos on human rights in 
Argentina visit, <http://www.agoratv.org/>www.agoratv.org





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