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Photos of victims of the Argentine military dictatorship at the court in Buenos Aires at a trial in 2017
Photo: Victor R. Caivano/ dpa
The last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976 to 1983) was notorious for its cruel actions against members of the opposition - especially for the so-called death flights, during which opponents of the regime were first stunned and then dropped from airplanes over the water.
Now four former military personnel have to be imprisoned for life because of the brutal method of killing.
This was reported by the Argentine news agency Telam, citing a court in San Martín near Buenos Aires on Monday evening.
Accordingly, those convicted of deprivation of liberty, torture and murder were a general, a commander and two other officers.
According to estimates by human rights organizations, the regime "disappeared" and killed up to 30,000 people in the hunt for citizens they suspected of left-wing ideas.
During the »death flights«, thousands of captured opposition members were stunned and thrown from naval planes into the Río de La Plata in the notorious ESMA naval school in Buenos Aires and in the military garrison Campo de Mayo in a suburb of the capital.
"Systematic machinery" used to murder thousands
According to the National Secretariat for Human Rights, this is the first time the army has been tried for "death flights".
"During the debate, testimonies provided evidence of the workings of this planned and systematic machine that disappeared and eliminated thousands of people," the Human Rights Secretariat tweeted.
The Secretariat had therefore acted as a plaintiff.
In 2017, 48 former military officers were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for human rights violations in the largest trial in Argentine history.
At that time, the use of the so-called death flights by the Navy was considered proven.
fek/dpa