Luciano Benjamin Menéndez

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Luciano Benjamín Menéndez (1984)

Luciano Benjamín Menéndez (born June 19, 1927 in San Martín ; † February 27, 2018 in Córdoba ) was an Argentine general and, as a member of the military dictatorship, responsible for numerous crimes against opposition members during the Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.

Military career

Menéndez graduated from the Colegio Militar de la Nación and served in Córdoba with the 3rd Army Group, where from 1975 he led combat operations of the 5th Infantry Brigade against guerrilla groups in the province of Tucumán . From September 1975 to September 1979 he was in command of the Army Group and ordered the mass arrest of hundreds of people suspected of collaborating with the left-wing guerrillas. At the beginning of the military takeover , Menéndez had announced: "We will have to kill 50,000 people. 25,000 subversives, 20,000 sympathizers and we will make 5,000 mistakes."

At the end of 1979 Menéndez was dismissed and dismissed after a revolt he had orchestrated due to a dispute with the then army chief, Roberto Eduardo Viola . Menéndez had opposed in particular the ordered release of the journalist Jacobo Timerman from the military prison.

Prosecution

After the end of the military dictatorship, Menéndez was held responsible for the kidnapping and partial murder of at least 800 people. As a commander, the Law of Obedience (Ley de Obediencia Debida) was not applied to him and lawsuits of murder, torture and kidnapping were brought. Most charges were, however, due to the final stroke Law dropped (Ley de Punto Final) 1987th For the remaining charges, he was pardoned by President Carlos Menem in 1990 before the trial began.

The laws suspending criminal prosecution were declared ineffective by the Argentine parliament in 2005 and the pardons were lifted a little later. In the later trials, Menéndez was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006 and 2008 (for the murder of four political activists). On July 8, 2010, he received another life sentence for crimes against humanity , for the fourth time. The 2008 ruling was also upheld by the Court of Appeal.

literature

  • Gabriel Chavez Tafur: Using International Law to By-pass Domestic Legal Hurdles: On the Applicability of the Statute of Limitations in the Menéndez et al. Case . Journal of International Criminal Justice (2008), Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 1061-1075

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Muere Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, elrepror con más condenas del último gobierno militar argentino , BBC , accessed on February 27, 2018
  2. ^ Paul H. Lewis: Guerrillas and generals: the "Dirty War" in Argentina . Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, p. 147
  3. ↑ a b Juan E. Méndez: Truth and partial justice in Argentina , Human Rights Watch, 1987. pp. 54-56
  4. ^ Argentine Ex-Army Chief Gets Life Sentence in 'Dirty War' Crimes . Ney York Times, July 25, 2008
  5. ↑ Dirty War ”General Receives Fourth Life Sentence ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Argentinia Independent, July 11, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.argentinaindependent.com
  6. ↑ Court Confirms life imprisonment sentence for oppressor Luciano Benjamín Menéndez ( Memento of 9 July 2012 in the Web archive archive.today ). Telam, September 1, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Menéndez, Luciano Benjamin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine general and member of the military dictatorship
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH San Martín
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 2018
Place of death Cordoba