No Statute of limitations. The verdict in the case of “operation Condor” – a warning to the Kiev regime
6 June 2016
On Friday 3rd of June in Argentina, an unprecedented event took place. For the first time a court ruled that the operation “Condor”, developed with the participation of the United States and conducted in the 1970s by six South American dictatorships for the purpose of physical liquidation of political opponents, is an international criminal conspiracy.
In the court case, the former leader of the junta, who ruled Argentina in 1982-1983, 88-year-old General Reynaldo Bignone was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was accused of participating in an illicit association, kidnappings and abuse of official authority, related to the forced disappearance of more than 100 people. 14 other former military officials were sentenced to terms of imprisonment from 8 to 25 years for crimes of human rights violations. Convicted also was the former head of the Argentine Air Force 90-year-old Omar Graffigna for his involvement in the disappearance of a married couple of left-wing activists. Among the sentenced is also the Uruguayan Colonel Manuel Cordero Piacentini, who tortured prisoners in one of the repair shops of Buenos Aires, where he held and interrogated many left-wing activists.
It is believed that the operation “Condor” was launched in Chile in November 1975 by Augusto Pinochet, and his example was followed by other South American dictators. About all this, books have been written and films made, and journalistic investigations conducted, with horrifying details reminiscent of the bestialities of the Nazi butchers during the Second World War.
Many left-wing dissidents from the countries where the operation “Condor” was conducted, sought refuge in neighbouring countries and in other places, but that did not always help. The secret program went far beyond Latin America. The U.S. government later determined that in September of 1976 in Washington, Chilean agents involved in operation “Condor” murdered the former Ambassador of Chile, Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Karpen Moffitt. The agents of operation “Condor” also tracked people to their physical destruction throughout Europe.
A key piece of evidence in the case for the Argentine court were declassified data from an FBI agent, relating to 1976. The verdict is a milestone, because for the first time it was proven in court that the operation “Condor” was an international criminal conspiracy, materialised with support of the U.S.A. by the ruling regimes in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Because the bodies of many victims were never found, Argentine prosecutors maintain that the crime of concealment of the circumstances of these deaths is valid today and that the statutory period of limitation in this case is not applicable.
Since the legal precedent is created, and the Western legal system is built on precedents, the process can go further and affect the interests of the United States. And that is because the developers of this form of state terrorism and transnational crime were mostly politicians in Washington.
Also known are the facts of participation of at least two other countries in supporting dictatorial regimes in Latin America – the Great Britain and Israel. Both countries supplied arms and sent their instructors for suppression of guerilla activities (a useful experience for repression against the Irish and the Palestinians) and for techniques of interrogation using torture.
It should be noted that immediately following the court’s sentencing, the new pro-American President of Argentina Mauricio Macri was hospitalized in the night from 3 to 4 of June with a diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia. Whether it was the court’s decision itself that affected the state of health of the Argentine President, or his hospitalisation was the result of his difficult talks with the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, is unknown.
The judicial precedent created by Argentina is a signal to all the countries where such crimes have been committed and are being committed. It also is a message to the current Ukrainian rulers, involved in murders, kidnappings and torture of civilians in the past two years [*]. The latest 14th report [**] of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Ukraine bares open all the heaviness of crimes committed by the hands of Ukrainian officials and of the neo-Nazi groups under their control. As Argentina showed, to put a stop in such matters is never too late.
MOSCOW, June 7 /TASS/. Washington is concerned with the escalation of tensions in Syrian Aleppo, US Ambassador to Moscow John Tefft wrote on VK social network on Tuesday as he answered the users’ questions.
“We are working hard to restore the ceasefire regime and are concerned with the recent escalation of violence in Aleppo,” the American diplomat said. “It is vitally important for us to focus on implementation of commitments to observe the ceasefire by all the sides and it is necessary that Russia use its influence on the regime,” Tefft stressed.
my God, its the USA and UNSC refusing to demarcate moderate terrorist opposition away from the really bad sort, yet they are blaming ceasefire problems on Russia so it seems????????????
MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. Russia’s military grouping in Syria will provide active air support for the Syrian army to prevent terrorists from seizing Aleppo, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday.
READ ALSO
Terrorists increased intensity of shelling of north Aleppo at night
“What is now happening in Aleppo and around it – we warned the Americans about this in advance,” the minister said. “The U.S. knows that we will be providing air support to the Syrian army to prevent territories from being seized by terrorists.”
According to the minister, Russia will be making decisions regarding operations by its air group in Syria proceeding from its vision of the situation and there should be no surprises for the United States in that respect.
“In a telephone conversation I told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the United States has for many months defaulted on its obligation to separate the opposition groups loyal to it from Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia as a terrorist organization),” Lavrov said. “Unable of doing that the United States has been saying all the time that the positions of “good” and “bad” opposition groups are mixed and it has been asking us and the Syrian leadership to postpone air strikes.”
“We believe that since last February there has been more than enough time for the normal opposition to separate from the terrorists (the ceasefire took effect in Syria on February 27),” he said. “All those who have not distanced themselves from the terrorists have nobody to put the blame on but themselves. I explained that to John Kerry very clearly and emphasized the absolute need for the Americans to comply with another promise of theirs – to take action to prevent infiltrations of militants and weapons from Turkey.”
READ ALSO
Units of Kurdish militia abandon defenses in Aleppo, retreat
“We are being told that Washington has been doing precisely that, but we will make decisions as to what our air group should be doing further on proceeding from our vision of the situation,” Lavrov said. “We share our vision with the Americans in daily videoconferences between the Hmeymim air base and the US command in Amman. There will be no surprises for the Americans in that respect.”
“The developments inside Aleppo and around it are is something we’d warned the Americans of well in advance,” Lavrov said. “The United States knows that we will provide the most active air support for the Syrian army in order to prevent terrorists from capturing territories. We expect that our partners will be cooperating with us in earnest and by all means avoid using our regular contacts to push ahead with inconspicuously implementing some other plans – B, C, or D – behind our backs,” Lavrov said.
Sooner or later, is it gonna fall apart, it is only Rus legally present in Syria, who is increasingly alarmed at western position and intentions. But we all know this…………
Leonid Savin, Moscow’s Strategic Culture Foundation, http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2016/06/06/bez-sroka-davnosti.-prigovor-po-delu-operacii-kondor-preduprezhdenie-kievskomu-rezhimu-40701.html :
No Statute of limitations. The verdict in the case of “operation Condor” – a warning to the Kiev regime
6 June 2016
On Friday 3rd of June in Argentina, an unprecedented event took place. For the first time a court ruled that the operation “Condor”, developed with the participation of the United States and conducted in the 1970s by six South American dictatorships for the purpose of physical liquidation of political opponents, is an international criminal conspiracy.
In the court case, the former leader of the junta, who ruled Argentina in 1982-1983, 88-year-old General Reynaldo Bignone was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was accused of participating in an illicit association, kidnappings and abuse of official authority, related to the forced disappearance of more than 100 people. 14 other former military officials were sentenced to terms of imprisonment from 8 to 25 years for crimes of human rights violations. Convicted also was the former head of the Argentine Air Force 90-year-old Omar Graffigna for his involvement in the disappearance of a married couple of left-wing activists. Among the sentenced is also the Uruguayan Colonel Manuel Cordero Piacentini, who tortured prisoners in one of the repair shops of Buenos Aires, where he held and interrogated many left-wing activists.
It is believed that the operation “Condor” was launched in Chile in November 1975 by Augusto Pinochet, and his example was followed by other South American dictators. About all this, books have been written and films made, and journalistic investigations conducted, with horrifying details reminiscent of the bestialities of the Nazi butchers during the Second World War.
Many left-wing dissidents from the countries where the operation “Condor” was conducted, sought refuge in neighbouring countries and in other places, but that did not always help. The secret program went far beyond Latin America. The U.S. government later determined that in September of 1976 in Washington, Chilean agents involved in operation “Condor” murdered the former Ambassador of Chile, Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Karpen Moffitt. The agents of operation “Condor” also tracked people to their physical destruction throughout Europe.
A key piece of evidence in the case for the Argentine court were declassified data from an FBI agent, relating to 1976. The verdict is a milestone, because for the first time it was proven in court that the operation “Condor” was an international criminal conspiracy, materialised with support of the U.S.A. by the ruling regimes in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Because the bodies of many victims were never found, Argentine prosecutors maintain that the crime of concealment of the circumstances of these deaths is valid today and that the statutory period of limitation in this case is not applicable.
Since the legal precedent is created, and the Western legal system is built on precedents, the process can go further and affect the interests of the United States. And that is because the developers of this form of state terrorism and transnational crime were mostly politicians in Washington.
Also known are the facts of participation of at least two other countries in supporting dictatorial regimes in Latin America – the Great Britain and Israel. Both countries supplied arms and sent their instructors for suppression of guerilla activities (a useful experience for repression against the Irish and the Palestinians) and for techniques of interrogation using torture.
It should be noted that immediately following the court’s sentencing, the new pro-American President of Argentina Mauricio Macri was hospitalized in the night from 3 to 4 of June with a diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia. Whether it was the court’s decision itself that affected the state of health of the Argentine President, or his hospitalisation was the result of his difficult talks with the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, is unknown.
The judicial precedent created by Argentina is a signal to all the countries where such crimes have been committed and are being committed. It also is a message to the current Ukrainian rulers, involved in murders, kidnappings and torture of civilians in the past two years [*]. The latest 14th report [**] of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Ukraine bares open all the heaviness of crimes committed by the hands of Ukrainian officials and of the neo-Nazi groups under their control. As Argentina showed, to put a stop in such matters is never too late.
***
See also:
[*] http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2016/06/05/shokirujuschij-doklad-oon-perechen-prestuplenij-ukrainskih-vlastej-ii-40689.html
[**] http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/Ukraine_14th_HRMMU_Report.pdf
Interviews with US Senator Richard Black, back from Syria:
https://youtu.be/wRRB5TKYZJA
https://youtu.be/RczOh6AXU14
MOSCOW, June 7 /TASS/. Washington is concerned with the escalation of tensions in Syrian Aleppo, US Ambassador to Moscow John Tefft wrote on VK social network on Tuesday as he answered the users’ questions.
“We are working hard to restore the ceasefire regime and are concerned with the recent escalation of violence in Aleppo,” the American diplomat said. “It is vitally important for us to focus on implementation of commitments to observe the ceasefire by all the sides and it is necessary that Russia use its influence on the regime,” Tefft stressed.
More:
http://tass.ru/en/world/880526
my God, its the USA and UNSC refusing to demarcate moderate terrorist opposition away from the really bad sort, yet they are blaming ceasefire problems on Russia so it seems????????????
MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. Russia’s military grouping in Syria will provide active air support for the Syrian army to prevent terrorists from seizing Aleppo, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday.
READ ALSO
Terrorists increased intensity of shelling of north Aleppo at night
“What is now happening in Aleppo and around it – we warned the Americans about this in advance,” the minister said. “The U.S. knows that we will be providing air support to the Syrian army to prevent territories from being seized by terrorists.”
According to the minister, Russia will be making decisions regarding operations by its air group in Syria proceeding from its vision of the situation and there should be no surprises for the United States in that respect.
“In a telephone conversation I told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the United States has for many months defaulted on its obligation to separate the opposition groups loyal to it from Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia as a terrorist organization),” Lavrov said. “Unable of doing that the United States has been saying all the time that the positions of “good” and “bad” opposition groups are mixed and it has been asking us and the Syrian leadership to postpone air strikes.”
“We believe that since last February there has been more than enough time for the normal opposition to separate from the terrorists (the ceasefire took effect in Syria on February 27),” he said. “All those who have not distanced themselves from the terrorists have nobody to put the blame on but themselves. I explained that to John Kerry very clearly and emphasized the absolute need for the Americans to comply with another promise of theirs – to take action to prevent infiltrations of militants and weapons from Turkey.”
READ ALSO
Units of Kurdish militia abandon defenses in Aleppo, retreat
“We are being told that Washington has been doing precisely that, but we will make decisions as to what our air group should be doing further on proceeding from our vision of the situation,” Lavrov said. “We share our vision with the Americans in daily videoconferences between the Hmeymim air base and the US command in Amman. There will be no surprises for the Americans in that respect.”
“The developments inside Aleppo and around it are is something we’d warned the Americans of well in advance,” Lavrov said. “The United States knows that we will provide the most active air support for the Syrian army in order to prevent terrorists from capturing territories. We expect that our partners will be cooperating with us in earnest and by all means avoid using our regular contacts to push ahead with inconspicuously implementing some other plans – B, C, or D – behind our backs,” Lavrov said.
More:
http://tass.ru/en/defense/880324
Sooner or later, is it gonna fall apart, it is only Rus legally present in Syria, who is increasingly alarmed at western position and intentions. But we all know this…………