Argentina

"Dirty war" chiefs jailed for life

Article published on the 2008-08-29 Latest update 2008-08-29 12:02 TU

Activists react after hearing the verdict.
(Photo: REUTERS/Tribunal Oral Federal Tucuman/Jorge Olmos Grosso/Handout (ARGENTINA). FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING)

A court in Argentina has sentenced two former generals from the 1976-1983 "dirty war" to life in prison. Former Tucuman Governor and army general Antonio Domingo Bussi and his superior, Luciano Benjamin Menendez, were convicted of torturing and murdering a senator on the day of the coup 32 years ago.

The court ruled that the pair can remain under house arrest as they are both older that 70.

Hundreds of human rights activists charged at police surrounding the building as they heard the sentences, throwing rocks and clubs. Police fired water-cannons and teargas to disperse the crowd.

Speaking before the sentence was read out, an unrepentant Bussi claimed he was being "politically persecuted".

"It was a war against Marxist insurgents," the former governor said. "I'm still the same Bussi as always," he added, choking back tears.

Menendez criticised "international communism". Linking today's left to his opponents during the military dictatorship, he said, "The ones we defeated abandoned their armed conflict and morphed into peaceful citizens."

Family and friends of the murdered senator Guillermo Vargas Aignasse welcomed the guilty verdict.

During the "dirty war", tens of thousands of people were kidnapped by the authorties and disappeared.