'Blond Angel of Death' Alfredo Astiz released

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

'Blond Angel of Death' Alfredo Astiz released
From correspondents in Buenos Aires | December 19, 2008
Article from: Agence France-Presse

ALFREDO Astiz, known as the "Blond Angel of Death" for a series of alleged murders during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship, will be released from detention.
"This measure shames Argentina and all of humanity," an outraged President Cristina Kirchner said after a court ordered Astiz be released on grounds he had been detained for two years without being formally charged.

"It's a perversion of the system, because he should be put on trial," she said.

Astiz, 57, is still in detention, a court official said, pending a possible appeal by the Government or a court-ordered delay to set conditions for his release, since he is considered a flight risk.

"I don't think I'm breaking the law when I say that the justice system will revoke (the release order) for the sake of Argentina's dignity," Ms Kirchner said at the Memory Museum dedicated to the victims of the dictatorship, located inside the very premises of the former Navy Mechanics School.

Read more: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24823151-12377,00.html

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http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/39325000/jpg/_39325231_1astiz203.jpg

Astid

I read recently that Astiz called the two French nuns he delivered to the Argentinian junta his "flying nuns," since they had thrown them out of an airplane. What a witty, clever man.

The nuns had belonged to a group, the Women in White, of dissidents protesting the actions of the government in imprisoning leftist women, and, when they were pregnant, delivering their babies, sometimes, if time was an issue, forcing them to give birth by C-section, then giving the infants to favored officials and their wives, and killing the mothers by throwing them out of airplanes.

Astid worked undercover to gain their confidence, then turned in a lot of them who were then tortured and murdered.

The group still has survivors, whom were recognized by the current President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, at her inaugural address as they sat in a position of honor in a balcony. Fernandez de Kirchner's husband, the former President was himself tortured by the Argentinian fascist government years ago.

[judasdisney]

1. the Underground Reich survives and thrives

[Judi Lynn]

2. Argentine court orders release of jailed officersI

Argentine court orders release of jailed officers
Thu 18 Dec 2008, 21:05 GMT

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine court on Thursday ordered the release of 12 jailed former naval officers facing charges of murder, torture and other human rights abuses during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship.

The decision came under an Argentine law that says accused people in custody for two years without being convicted and sentenced must be released pending trial, judicial sources told Reuters.

Among those ordered freed until trial was Alfredo Astiz, one of the most notorious figures of Argentina's military rule, who is charged with the murder of two French nuns in 1977.

Known as the "blond angel of death," Astiz is accused of infiltrating human rights groups during the dictatorship and identifying some victims to be kidnapped and murdered by kissing them during a church service.

He was convicted in France in absentia for the killing of the nuns.

"This is an insult, a slap in the face," said Taty Almeida, a leader of the human rights group, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

A government report says more than 11,000 people died or disappeared during the "Dirty War," a crackdown on leftists and other opponents of the military government at the time. Human rights groups say the number is closer to 30,000.

More:
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnTRE4BH6W5.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Argentina's 'dirty war' suspects to stay in jail

Dec 19, 5:03 PM EST
Argentina's 'dirty war' suspects to stay in jail
By VICENTE L. PANETTA
Associated Press Writer


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- An Argentine high court Friday suspended a controversial decision to grant bail to high-profile defendants accused of torturing and killing dissidents during the 1976-1983 dictatorship.

The court instead sent the cases to the Supreme Court after prosecutor Raul Plee appealed the ruling. The decision will keep the suspects behind bars until the Supreme Court ruling, at a date still to be determined.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel ordered the release of suspects including former navy officer Jorge Acosta, who was convicted in absentia in Italy for the killings of three Italians; and Alfredo Astiz, the so-called Angel of Death accused in the disappearance of two French nuns and the founder of the famed human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

The judges wrote in a ruling that the defendants had been held for too long while their trials moved forward slowly - some of them well past the legal limit of three years, such as Acosta, who has been detained since Aug. 16, 2001.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_ARGENTINA_DIRTY_WAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-19-17-03-40