Uruguay: Amnesty Law Vote a Blow to Justice

[Judi Lynn]

Uruguay: Amnesty Law Vote a Blow to Justice
Prosecution of Dictatorship Era Abuses Should Move Forward
May 26, 2011

(Washington, DC) - The Uruguayan Congress's failure to annul the country's amnesty law is a blow to those who want justice for past human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

On May 20, 2011, the Chamber of Deputies upheld the country's 1986 amnesty law - the Law on the Expiration of the Punitive Claims of the State - which protects police and military personnel from prosecution for crimes during the military dictatorship of 1973 to 1985. During the dictatorship, military and police officers committed egregious abuses, including enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and torture. In two plebiscites, in 1989 and 2009, over 50 percent of Uruguayan voters rejected revisiting the amnesty legislation.

"Despite the amnesty law, some prosecutions of dictatorship era abuses have been able to move forward," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "It is critical for the judiciary to pursue these cases because hundreds of families in Uruguay are still waiting for justice."

Judicial authorities have been able to proceed on a case-by-case basis. On October 19, 2009, the Uruguayan Supreme Court held that the amnesty law was unconstitutional. The court's decision, though, was only applicable to the case under review, involving the death of a young woman in military installations in 1974.

More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/05/26/uruguay-amnesty-law-vote-blow-justice