First modification:
An Argentine court began this September 14 the trial against former police officer Mario Sandoval, extradited in 2019 from France on charges of disappearance and torture of a student during the dictatorship, and involved in hundreds of other cases of repression.
After 46 years of waiting for justice, the family of Hernán Abriata, who forcibly disappeared in 1976, had the opportunity to confront former police inspector Mario Sandoval in court, accused of participating in the kidnapping, torture and disappearance de Abriata and other young people during the military dictatorship of General Jorge Videla.
“Marked forever”
During the reading of the complaint, the relatives were present, as well as several survivors of the clandestine detention center where they were taken. One of them is Carlos Loza, who was held captive along with the young architecture student, and he tells us that seeing the former police officer again stirred up terrible memories in him.
“It removed all that memory because we shared captivity with Hernán with other companions. We were with him for approximately two weeks and this disturbs us because we talked raising the hood up to our eyes. (…) Of course, we didn’t know each other before, but those days were enough to leave us marked forever, until the last day of our lives”, explains Carlos Loza.
test responsibility
Sol Hourcade, plaintiff attorney in lawsuits against humanity for the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), highlights that the beginning of this process, beyond seeking a sentence, updates the families’ claim for justice.
“It will depend on how they end up qualifying the facts during the allegations, but it could be a sentence of up to 25 years that he could face if he is held responsible. Generally, what we want to prove is the responsibility of the person prosecuted for crimes against humanity. In that sense, what we hope is that this responsibility can be proven during the debate and that the court considers it so. We hope that this responsibility encompasses both the disappearance, the illegal deprivation of liberty of Hernán Abriata and all the torments he suffered during his captivity in the ESMA”, details the lawyer.
The former police officer, who is in preventive detention, in his presentation before the court denied the accusations and demanded the annulment of the charges. However, all of his claims were rejected. Without a doubt, this is a trial that reopens painful wounds in Argentine society.
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