Argentina's Last Dictator Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

The last leader of Argentina's military dictatorship, Reynaldo Benito Bignone, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping, murder, and disappearances of Argentines between 1976 and 1978, while he was an officer in the military. Bignone was president of Argentina from Argentina's loss in the Malvinas/Falklands War in 1982 to the end of the dictatorship in 1983, during which time he oversaw the destruction of thousands of documents and the amnesty of war criminals in Argentina. The conviction means that Bignone, who is 82, will die a disgraced man, rightly punished for what he did. In this, he joins Jorge Videla, the first (and longest-lasting) of the Argentine military dictators of the Dirty War period. The third major dictator of the dictatorship, Leopoldo Galtieri (1981-1982), died in 2003, but even he died a disgraced man, after a civil suit had resulted in his house arrest.

Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura Convicted (Again) in Dorothy Stang's Murder

Excellent news:

A jury in the Brazilian city of Belém has sentenced a rancher to 30 years in prison for the murder of an American-born nun, news agencies reported.

The rancher, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, was convicted of ordering the murder in 2005 of Sister Dorothy Stang, from Dayton, Ohio, a longtime organizer of rural settlers and the poor in their efforts to protect their land from seizures by cattle ranchers and timber merchants.

Globo News, in Sao Paulo, reported Tuesday that the jury reached its verdict late Monday night after 15 hours of deliberations. The trial was the second appeal in the case, and the decision on Monday upheld the original conviction from 2007.

After being found guilty in 2007, Bastos de Moura, or "Bita," was acquitted in a second trial in 2008 (and for those wondering about double jeopardy, in Brazil, first-time convicts sentenced to more than 20 years are automatically given a re-trial). The third Trial took place after the state of Para's top court ruled that video evidence that Bita's defense used in the second trial was inadmissable, effectively rendering this third trial his "second" after Brazil's Supreme Court upheld the Para court's ruling. Now, it appears that Moura will actually serve time for contracting the murder of Dorothy Stang.

The conviction itself is huge, as it is one of the first times that a powerful rancher has been found guilty for his role in the murder of a land rights activist. Of course, Para sees many such murders, including just last week, and it is often commonly accepted that the wealthy landowners are often behind those murders but never see trial due to their power in the region. Certainly, Stang's case is particularly high-profile, but it is still extremely encouraging to see at least one landowner has been punished for his deeds, offering tentative hope that perhaps ranchers involved in future contracted murders will also be punished within the Brazilian courts (or at least deterred from hiring killers in the wake of Bita's sentencing). As Rebecca Spires put it, the only real chance at ending the murders in the Amazon is to go after the contractors; otherwise, the killings will most likely never cease. This is a good step in that direction, and if nothing else, Stang's case alone is an encouraging case of elites in Para not being protected by their money or status.

Good News for American Justice

Fortunately, walking into a church with a gun and shooting a man point-blank in the head is still considered murder.

DNA – no longer the fail-safe blueprint of crime scene investigations?

This is truly troubling. The fact that DNA evidence can be fabricated for crime scenes takes away the one guaranteed test we had in order to establish criminality (or non-criminality), however infrequently it may be used and followed through even in cases where DNA is available.

Researchers at Nucleix, a lifescience company based in Tel-Aviv, manufactured fake DNA that could potentially be planted at a crime scene. They extracted the DNA to be planted from a small sample tissue, such as a strand of hair or a drop of saliva. They then separated out DNA-free blood cells from donor blood by centrifugation to remove all traces of the donor’s original DNA, and added the "fake" DNA to it. By using DNA profiles from databases, they managed to replicate the double helix, which resembled the structure of DNA from the original hair/saliva sample.

Considering the number of people who are wrongly convicted and spend time behind bars for no reason---apparently there is no consensus on that number---but we can all agree that that number, no matter how small, is unjust and cruel when you are talking about an individual's wasted life. And this is not just in the case of life sentences or death row inmates, since even innocent people who find themselves exonerated after years in prison have a very hard time making a life for themselves in the real world once the stigma of a conviction is attached to them.

This has mostly to do with the lack of standardized compensation policies across the country, including no compensation statutes in 28 states.

To date, 241 innocent people have been exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence thanks to the efforts of the Innocence Project. The judicial system by itself is so unreliable that it does not naturally allow a convicted person rights to DNA testing even if he were to seek it.

However, this is not to say that DNA evidence is absolute, and as some would argue, it cannot---like any other type of evidence---stand alone in a criminal case. Questions have been raised about how unique genetic profiles really are. Moreover, DNA from years-old cases can be damaged, or contaminated.

But DNA evidence is still the most scientifically valid method we have to date to establish proof beyond doubt.

As if to reinforce this, and somewhat comfortingly, the Tel-Aviv lab was able to discern differences between natural and man-made DNA evidence based on the methyl groups that are added to DNA during the natural process of replication.

Thankfully, we haven’t beaten Nature yet. So, let's hope we can use it.

Luis Arce Gomez, the "Minister of Cocaine," Sent to Bolivia to Serve Jail Time for Human Rights Violations

Bolivian Colonel Luis Arce Gomez, a military officer who helped bring about right-wing dictator Luis García Meza Tejada's 13-month repressive regime, has been deported to Bolivia, where he will face jail for human rights abuses after serving a jail-term for drug crimes in the U.S. Although barely lasting more than a year, the military killed more than 1000 Bolivians during García Meza's brief reign. Arce Gomez, now 71, can look forward to spending the rest of his life in jail as he begins a 30-year sentence for "human rights violations including genocide, armed uprising, constitutional violations, and murder." Gomez was so in favor of repressive measures and state-sponsored killings as the Secretary of the Interior during García Meza's regime that he notoriously claimed that Bolivians should "walk around with their written will under their arms." In addition to his human rights abuses, Arce Gomez was closely tied to drug cartels, ties that earned him the nickname "Minister of Cocaine," as well as the 17-year jail sentence he served in the United States. To understand just how repugnant the García Meza government was, one simply needs to know that even Ronald Reagan distanced himself from the Bolivian dictator, even while he cozied up to repressive regimes in Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Lillie has more.

Justice for Angie?

While I was at school today, the verdict in the Angie Zapata trial came in--guilty on all four counts.

From Questioning Transphobia:

* Count 1: First degree murder - guilty
* Count 2: Bias motivated crime - guilty
* Count 3: Aggravated motor vehicle theft (1st degree) - guilty
* Count 4: ID theft - guilty

Sentencing for the first count: mandatory life without parole.
Sentencing on the remaining three counts will take place on May 8th at 3PM MST.

To me, the most important part of this verdict isn't just the conviction for murder. Great, we're admitting that a transgender woman IS fully human--is not a thing or a monster, killing her is in fact murder.

But what matters to me is the "bias motivated crime" charge. The fact that a jury convicted Andrade of a hate crime, that they not only didn't buy his argument of "victimization" but they saw that killing Angie because she was transgender is a hate crime, pure and simple.

Like several bloggers and others that commented on Twitter, I know "justice" can't ever really be done in cases like this. Angie isn't back. Her killer will go to prison, but the prison system is itself horribly screwed up. Will this actually change the treatment of transgender women by the media, the legal system, the world at large?

I suppose all we can hope for--and work for--is at least a small improvement.

A Second Chance at Justice in the Dorothy Stang Murder

Last year, I was dismayed when a Brazilian court overturned the conviction of Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, who was earlier convicted for ordering Stang's guilt.

Well, in the wake of the good news in Peru today, there's more great news out of Brazil:

A Brazilian court on Tuesday ordered the arrest and retrial of an Amazon rancher acquitted of orchestrating the murder of American nun and rain forest activist Dorothy Stang.
Para state's top court reversed last year's not-guilty verdict for Vitalmiro Moura on a technicality, ruling that a video used by the defense was not admissible as evidence, the state prosecutor said.

This is just outstanding. Over the past two decades, over 1,100 environmental activists and poor people have been murdered in Brazil's Northern and Northeastern regions over land disputes and conservation efforts, and for way too long, the elites behind these murders and the land-grabs that precede or follow them have remained immune. Moura's overturned conviction last year was definitely a low-point in the justice system in Brazil. But this new ruling changes everything - Moura can go back to the courts where he was originally found guilty (Brazil has no double-jeopardy laws), and hopefully witness the same justice that the poor men who were convicted and whom he hired to murder Stang. It's rare that justice gets a second chance, especially against Brazil's landed elites; hopefully, this ruling will help overturn that trend. I doubt it will, but even if it doesn't, at least there's a chance for Moura to end up back in jail, where he rightfully belongs.

Jorge Videla Finally Sent Back Where He Belongs

This is just outstanding news:

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla was taken to a military prison Friday, after a federal judge revoked the benefit of house arrest that he had enjoyed for 10 years.

Court sources said that Videla, 83, was taken to the Campo de Mayo military prison near Buenos Aires, in line with a decision by federal judge Norberto Oyarbide.

Videla was charged with kidnapping the children of political opponents and leftists, and putting them up for adoption. The children disappeared during his dictatorship from 1976-1983. According to human rights organizations, the military regime caused the disappearance of an estimated 30,000 people - most have never been traced.

Argentine law grants the benefit of house arrest to people over 70. But judge Oyarbide said that the military jail at Campo de Mayo "has the equipment, infrastructure and personnel required" to handle any medical emergencies that the elderly Videla might have.

Argentina has done an outstanding (if belated) job of going after criminals for crimes committed (including by clergy) during its 1976-1983 dictatorship, undoing a lot of the damage done by Carlos Menem's inexcusable and unforgiveable 1990 pardon. Videla should have spent the last 23 years in prison, and while he has been under house arrest for the last 10 years. While he is 83, it's excellent to see that he will spend the rest of his life (as he was sentenced to do in 1985) in prison for the crimes he committed as the head of one of Latin America's most murderous, repressive states ever.

Putting Human Rights Violators in Jail, from the Caribbean to Argentina

Last week, Argentina sentenced Lucio Benjamin Menendez, 81, to life in prison for his role during Argentina's "Dirty War," along with six others. Menendez's conviction was particularly important as he was head of the military in the Argentine province of Cordoba; as the story points out, the torture center in the region, which Menendez oversaw, had only 17 survivors of its more than 2200 political prisoners. And that's worth stopping to think about and repeat: only 17 of the more than 2200 people who passed through there survived.

In spite of these numbers, Menendez's conviction (as in the cases of other, previous convictions of military leaders involved in human rights abuses) focused on four specific incidents, finding Menendez guilty in his role of "overs[eeing] the kidnapping, torture and murder of four activists who protested against the military government that lasted from 1976 to 1983." Prosecutors in Argentina (as well as Chile and elsewhere) have used this approach to great effect, not overextending their cases and relying on the few that will virtually guarantee convictions and make sure those men who participated and are still alive will spend the rest of their lives in jail for their deeds; such is the case with Menendez. The fact that Menendez (and the other 6 officers and one civilian, about whom I can find nothing) was found guilty is nothing less than great.

And in the northern half of the hemisphere, Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, a former Haitian paramilitary, is also going to find himself in jail. While Constant was under investigation for mortgage fraud in the U.S., his role as the head of the FRAPH paramilitary group (which was in part bankrolled by the CIA) came to light. Constant and FRAPH involved in the Raboteau massacre against Aristide supporters in 1994, when dozens (estimates are between 26 and more than 50) people were massacred as the military took over the Haitian government. While U.S. authorities had agreed to a plea deal with Constant for time served (10 months) in the mortgage fraud and larceny case, upon learning of his role in the Raboteau massacre, the judge ordered Constant to stand trial for the mortgage case.

This week, Constant was found guilty in New York, and is facing up to 15 years in jail. This reporter hit it on the head: "[Constant's] a thief as well as someone who commits human rights violations." One can still hope that he stands trial in Haiti for the actual human rights abuses, but regardless of how he ends up in jail, it's great news that Constant is going to jail, one way or another.

Sentence in Dorothy Stang's Murder upheld

I've written about Stang before. She was the former American nun who fought for the poor to have access to land in Brazil and who was murdered last year. Yesterday, in a re-trial, a judge upheld her murderer's sentence of 27 years:

In a retrial, a judge in Belém sentenced Rayfran das Neves Sales to 27
years in prison for the shooting death of Dorothy Stang, an American nun and
rain forest defender, handing down the same punishment as in the first trial, in
2005. (NY Times)

There's nothing particularly alarming in this retrial - they are mandatory in Brazil for all sentences that are 20 years or more (maximum sentence in Brazil being 30 years). Still, it's good to see the judge uphold Moura's sentencing. Moura's defense that he shot her out of "fear and rage" is not a legitimate defense of murder, and it's good to see the judge not bow into whatever local political pressures may have existed (and there may not have been many by this point - I just don't know).

Another Human Rights Trial in Argentina

In the wake of the von Wernick guilty sentence last week, Argentina has begun its trial against Héctor Febres, a former military officer charged with the kidnapping and torture of four people during the "Dirty War". In the wake of the Wernick trial, and even the U.S.'s deportation of Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro, another participant in the Dirty War, in April, this is ntohing but good news. Obviously, when twenty-four years have passed since the end of a state that killed as many as almost 30,000 of its own people in a 7-year period, you will not be able to charge and convict everybody involved, simply because many of the participants have died without seeing justice (and even former president Jorge Videla only remains under house arrest after his life-sentence was pardoned by Carlos Menem, a pardon that has since been struck down but led to little in the way of justice). Still, the fact that Argentina continues to go after those who were involved sets an important standard, letting militaries in Argentina (and perhaps elsewhere in the world) know that impunity is no longer a guarantee for human rights violators, be it low-ranking officers or former presidents.

Rev. Christian von Wernich Sentenced in Argentina

Following up on this post, Argentine courts found Rev. Christian von Wernich guilty of conspiring with the military during Argentina's "Dirty War", and a tribunal has sentenced him to life in prison. There isn't much I have to add from my original post. It's just worth repeating that, even if this decision ends up being the first and last of its kind, it's good to see that not only a clergyman punished for his role in the repression, but to see that the Church and Argentine society have been forced to deal with the Church's role in the brutal repression of the dictatorship.

Holding the Catholic Church Responsible in Argentina

Twenty-four years after the end of Argentina's military dictatorship that killed perhaps as many as 30,000 people, at least one member of the Catholic Church is being held responsible. The trial of priest Christian von Wernick wrapped up last week (with a decision being made in the next few months). The fact that this trial was even brought forth is important, even if it could end up being the only one of its kind. Unlike in Brazil and Chile, where the Catholic Church initially supported the overthrow of the state but came to be a major campaigner for human rights (particularly in Brazil), the Church in Argentina was always far more approving of and participatory in the regime in Argentina, never coming out to condemn the absence of democracy or human rights violations. Nor have they ever really even apologized for their role in supporting the military regime in Argentina (again, in contrast to the Church in Chile and Brazil). Thus, the fact that even one priest has been brought to trial matters.

The charges against von Wernich are particularly insidious, even by military regime standards - "he extracted confessions to help the military root out perceived enemies, while at the same time offering comforting words and hope to family members searching for loved ones who had been kidnapped by the government". That he not only is charged with attending torture sessions, but then two-facedly and hypocritically consoling the families of the disappeared. His legal defense isn't exactly the strongest, either, as his lawyer claims that "The witnesses did not say that he tortured, kidnapped or murdered...Nobody said he participated in any act of torture," which of course dodges entirely the question of whether he was present at torture sessions. To my view, it doesn't matter if he wasn't personally involved in the attaching of electrodes to genitalia, violation with blunt objects, dunking under water, etc. - if he was even remotely tied to this, he should go to jail. Period.

Certainly, this trial may be the only one of its kind (as the article points out, many of the other priests whose involvement in torture has been documented have already escaped justice by dying). Yet the fact that it has forced the issue of the Church's involvement back into the public arena is important. With the likelihood of bringing any individuals from the Church to justice becoming increasingly difficult, making the Church uncomfortable and trying to force it to acknowledge its past (with the hope of preventing a repeat in the future) is one of the better things that could happen to the Catholic Church in Argentina

Trying to find justice in Georgia

Mercifully, a judge today has thrown out the conviction and sex offender label of Genarlow Wilson. Another fine example of the racist legal double-standard for whites and blacks in the South, Wilson is the 20 year old African-American male serving a 10-year sentence for a sex crime for engaging in a voluntary sex act with a 15 year old when he was 17. Of course, the idiot prosecutors are still going after Wilson, and he will remain in jail until the prosecutors' appeal is heard. Still, at least there is some hope here. The Georgia legislature has since re-written the law that put Wilson in jail, and the judge has already acknowledged that Wilson's conviction was, in a word, idiotic. While the fact that two teens willingly engaged in sexual acts is still prosecuteable in Georgia is laughable (as many have put it, if you're old enough to be tried as an adult, you're old enough to decide what to do with your body sexually), at least it looks like Wilson may still get a break here. It's just unfortunate he's already lost two years of his life. Here's hoping the appeals fail, and Wilson is a free man VERY soon.