ARGENTINA: Caso Orletti y la Operación Cóndor:estos malandras fueron nuestros jueces

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New 'Operation Condor' trial starts in Argentina

Friday, 4 June 2010 1:59 UK BBC Online
Five former intelligence  and military officials in Argentina have gone on trial on charges of  murdering 65 people. 

They are accused of kidnapping, torturing, and killing  left-wing activists under the country's military rule between 1976 and  1983. 
Human rights groups hope the trial will shed light on Operation  Condor, a joint effort among South American military rulers aimed at  suppressing opposition. 
The five have denied the charges.  
They include two former intelligence officers, Honorio Martinez  Ruiz and Eduardo Ruffo,  former Gen Eduardo Cabanillas, former Col  Ruben Visuara, and former military intelligence agent Raul  Guglielminetti.  
A sixth man, former Vice Cmdr Nestor Guillamondegui, was  excused from the trial on health grounds, court officials said.   
They said his health would be monitored to determine if he  could face trial at a later date. 
'Death sentence'       The men are accused of having run a notorious detention centre  in Buenos Aires.  
More than 200 people are believed to have been kidnapped and  taken to the secret prison, known as Automotores Orletti.  
Most of the detained were from Uruguay, but survivors say it  also housed prisoners from Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Cuba.  
Condor was devised in 1975 by military officials from  Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. 
Its aim was to silence the opposition by sending teams into  other countries to track, monitor and kill dissidents.  
A prosecutor said what happened at Automotores Orletti was  "calculated and planned and amounted to a death sentence" for the  prisoners.  

  the trial of Raul Guglielminetti and his co-accused will take months
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