Uruguay Open to Rights Cases of Dictator Era

[Judi Lynn]

Uruguay Open to Rights Cases of Dictator Era
By REUTERS
Published: July 1, 2011

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (Reuters) — Uruguay’s government issued a decree on Thursday giving judges the authority to investigate human rights cases that occurred during the military dictatorship that controlled the country from 1973 to 1985.

A year after democracy was restored in Uruguay, a small, South American nation of 3.4 million people, the government passed an amnesty law protecting security officers from prosecution.

But leftist coalitions that have been in power since 2005 have determined that some cases fall outside the provisions of the amnesty law, and about 20 former military personnel have been tried and convicted.

~snip~
Mr. Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla who spent more than a decade in jail, rejected the retired officers’ call for a “national agreement” between the army and victims of rights abuses and their relatives that would have avoided more investigations and trials.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/world/americas/01uruguay.html?_r=1&ref=world

[Peace Patriot]

1. K&R! I wish that accountability for war crimes was a judicial principle taught at...

...Harvard Law School.