"There is no way to imagine more serious events" | …

The prosecutor's office has asked for life sentences for eight of nine accused of crimes against humanity during the fourth trial that took place due to events at the Navy's School of Mechanics during the last dictatorship. This is the maximum possible sentence for the crimes committed against these repressors, most of them belonging to the navy, of medium and lower rank, and whose participation in state terrorism was not evaluated. by justice before this trial. Among the arguments raised by the prosecution's prosecutor during the debate, Felix Crous, are repressors who, although they "know" the operation of the clandestine center in which the ESMA has been transformed "decided to continue to belong to the working group "Who" kidnapped, tortured, killed and robbed ", none of which claimed" lack of freedom of action "to decide otherwise and" everyone decided to shut up ". "There is no way to imagine more serious events," Crous said. "The victims could not and probably will not be able to recover.We are asking the judges that this gravity be reflected in the sentence to be inflicted," he said at the end of his plea.

Crous held three hearings of approximately six hours each to present to the Federal Oral Court 5 the conclusions drawn by the Office of the Prosecutor with respect to the facts badessed in the fourth trial which took place on what had been the subject of a survey in the ESMA megacausal. First, he described the actions of the navy, the force that was responsible for ESMA, and the operation of the place as a clandestine center of detention, torture and extermination during the dictatorship. He did so briefly, since such issues were described and proven during the other three trials that had taken place previously to badess what had happened during state terrorism.

He then explained the little more than 800 cases – between kidnappings, torture, killings, disappearances and theft of babies – that were evaluated during this debate that began last August, and the responsibilities that have been taken in this regard. violation of human rights. Attorney General's Office to each of the nine accused accused. She ended yesterday with the conviction request.

For the Office of the Prosecutor, it has been proven that the defendants have been tried for deprivation of liberty, torture, homicide, theft of identity of children under 10 and crimes of badual violence. . Thus, he requested maximum penalties for Horacio Ferrari, who was the Navy's Rear Admiral and integrated into Task Force 3.3.2, the Chupadero force shock group, between March 1977 and January 1978; retired officer Carlos Castellví, who served as intelligence officer for the gang between 1979 and 1980; retired non-commissioned officers Carlos Carrillo and Jorge Ocaranza, members of the group between 1976 and 1977, the first in 1979 and the second, as well as retired corporals Ramón Zanabria and José Iturri, transferred under 3.3.2 between 1976 and 1977.

Crous also asked for life for whom, as a member of the 601 battalion, Miguel Conde, provided intelligence to the navy gang, and to Raul Cabral, a police officer. Claudio Vallejos, the ninth accused, a member of the Naval Intelligence Service, was able to apply for a six-year sentence of imprisonment to the ministry because his involvement in state terrorism to be badessed in the debate was limited by the conditions under which he was extradited from Brazil, where he remained on the run until it was not so long ago. He could only be prosecuted for one case of illegal deprivation of liberty, that of the ambbadador of Argentina to Venezuela, Enrique Hidalgo Solá. None of the defendants witnessed the allegation, which resulted in Room B of the Retiro Court.

For the Attorney General's Office, there are certain elements that allow us to support the demand for maximum sentences. In the first place, the characteristic of the facts imputed to the defendants. "There is no way to imagine more serious events than those we are dealing with here, the victims could not and probably will not be able to recover," he said. Regarding criminal qualifications, they are described as "among the most serious" and were committed, he added, "with the foresight of impunity". "These are crimes against humanity, those who committed them decided to put themselves out of civilization, they attacked humanity."

With regard to the defendants, none of whom in the years in which he participated in ESMA's crimes held positions of power in the force structure, Crous insisted that " without their participation, the crimes badyzed in progress "would not have occurred. They constituted the axis of the functioning of the underground center ".

Although the defendants occupied medium and low positions in the naval hierarchical pyramid, the prosecutor pointed out that "no one here has tried to prove freedom" when making decisions regarding the participation or not of the Navy. murderous gang of the force. Moreover, the defendants "knew the conditions" of the clandestine center, one of the most important authorized by the dictatorship in the country, and still "decided to continue to belong to the operational sector of the task force", declared Crous. "They probably did not decide the change of duties that involved becoming a gang that had kidnapped, tortured, stolen and murdered, but the truth is they did it." Knowing that it was not only obviously criminal, but a brutality that horrifies the compliment. They could have made another decision, to go home, look for another job, but choose to be part of the ESMA annihilation mechanism. They were the proletariat of crime, the skilled workers of death. "

To allege a lack of autonomy allowing them to imagine themselves obliged in their actions, the prosecutor determined that "we must first take charge of the acts" but "no one n & # 39; "Took care of nothing, they all chose to remain silent". And in this sense, he describes them as "executioners": "None provided information to locate missing men and women, or stolen children, they decided to continue to be torturers. of silence on the fate of their victims is their last enjoyment, their last power, their last act of torture. "

The debate will continue next Monday, with allegations of complaints.