Argentina: Ex-Dictator Sentenced in Murders

New York Times

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

 December 23, 2010

Jorge Videla, a former Argentine dictator, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday in the murder of 31 political prisoners who were killed after the 1976 coup that swept him into power. Mr. Videla, 85, is considered to have been the main force behind the violence known as the dirty war that included the forced disappearances of up to an estimated 30,000 people through 1983. In April, Argentina’s Supreme Court overturned a 1990 pardon for Mr. Videla and other military men involved in the dictatorship, paving the way for him to be tried for murder, kidnapping and torture, in the case that led to Wednesday’s sentence. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 after another trial, in which he was convicted of murder, torture and other crimes. On Tuesday Mr. Videla told the court that “yesterday’s enemies are in power and from there, they are trying to establish a Marxist regime.”