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| |  | | Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz | | | judgement place : | Argentina  | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Sentenced to life imprisonment on 19 September 2006 | | position : | Commissioner General of Police for the province of Buenos Aires, General Director of Investigations for the Buenos Aires Police |
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| | | | In 1986, Etchecolatz was sentenced to 23 years for illegal detention and forced disappearances of hundreds of political prisoners, but was released due to the amnesty laws in force at that time (the Ley de Punto Final and the Ley de Obediencia Debida),
Etchecolatz had to face civil trials which were not covered by the amnesty laws.
In 2004, Miguel Etchecolatz was tried for the abduction of the baby of a "disappeared" couple and the suppression of its identity. The amnesty laws were not applicable to this kind of crime.
Etchecolatz was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
He served a part of this sentence from 2004 to 2006, partly in prison, partly under house-arrest.
On 20 June 2006, a new trial against Miguel Etchecolatz began. In June 2005, the Argentine Supreme Court had struck down the two amnesty laws (see "context").
Miguel Etchecolatz was charged with murder, kidnapping and torture. He denied the jurisdiction of the court and claimed to innocent.
More than 100 witnesses were called. Raul Alfonsin, former president of Argentina, appeared as a witness for the defence.
On 19 September 2006, Miguel Etchecolatz was sentenced to life imprisonment. He had been found guilty of of the detention and torture of Jorge Lopez and Nilda Eloy, and the homicides of Ambrosio Francisco De Marco, Patricia Graciela Dell'Orto, Diana Teruggi de Mariani, Elena Arce Sahores, Nora Livia Formiga and Margarita Delgado.
Shortly afterwards, Jorge Lopez, one of the main witnesses for the prosecutor, whose testimony had led to Etchecolatz' conviction, disappeared. It is not known whether he has been abducted as a threat to other potentional witnesses, or whether he has gone into hiding after receiving threats. The judges who had tried Etchecolatz reported serious threats to their own security. | |    | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | charges : | | | Forced disappearances
Torture | | | profile last modified : | | | 08.02.2007 |
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