BUENOS AIRES Dec. 1 Reuter: Argentine President “Raul Alfonse’s government after three years in power is looking for Ways to curtail human rights trials against military officers fearing the cases could recycle hate.
“The idea is that sometime they will have to come to an end” said Cesar Jaroslavsky President of Alfonsin radical party block in the House of Deputies. “The idea of absolute justice is not realistic.
Alfonsin wrote history in Latin American last year when courts convicted five of nine former military chiefs for responsibility for a nationwide campaign of state terror from 1976 to 1983.
All five including former Presidents Jorge Videla and Roberto Viola both retired Generals are serving terms at a special military prison. Videla and an Admiral received life sentences.
The courts both military and civilian have not handed down any further convictions while hundreds of cases have dragged on with no end in sight.
But key members of the government fearing the issue of military involvement in human rights violations could be drawn out for years are preparing a statute of limitations bill on the prosecution of officers for human rights violations.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 5, 1986
