Clergyman to Stand Trial for "Dirty War" Crimes in Argentina

Black Collar Crime

A much awaited human rights abuse trial is underway in Argentina. The accused is a catholic priest charged with carrying out human rights abuses while working in several clandestine detention centers during the nation's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. The priest was arrested four years ago while living under an alias in Chile. This is the latest human rights trial of accused torturers since the landmark conviction of a former police officer for genocide in 2006.

Former Chaplin Christian Von Wernich wore a priest's collar and bulletproof vest as he sat behind reinforced glass in a federal court. The court clerk read charges accusing him of collaborating with state security agents and covering up crimes in seven deaths, 31 cases of torture, and 42 cases of illegal imprisonment. He answered basic court questions but refused to testify in the case, stating, "Following the advice of Dr. Jerollini who is my lawyer. I am not going to make a declaration. And I am not going to accept questions."

An estimated 30,000 people were killed during the military junta's reign of terror. As his trial began, hundreds of human rights activists stood outside the courtroom in the city of La Plata to decry Von Wernich as a murderer. President Nestor Kirchner traveled to La Plata and said during a speech that Von Wernich "brought dishonor to the Church, to poor people, and to human rights."

Christian Von Wernich


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Journalist Horacio Verbitsky recently published a book on the Catholic Church's involvement with the military dictatorship. In his book, El Silencio (The Silence), he reports that the Catholic Church actively participated in the 1976-1983 dictatorship while having full knowledge of the human rights violations being committed at the time.

In the days leading up to the coup, representatives from the Catholic Church met with leaders of Argentina's armed forced and witnesses report they left each of these meetings smiling. On the eve of the March 24, 1976 coup, military leaders Jorge Videla and Ramón Agosti visited Archbishop Paraná Adolfo Tortolo and Monsignor Victorio Bonamín at the Catholic Church's Vicariato Castrense headquarters. A week later, Tortolo reported that, "General Videla adheres to the principles and morals of Christian conduct. As a military leader he is first class, as a Catholic he is extraordinarily sincere and loyal to his faith." He also said that when confronting subversion, the military should take on "hard and violent measures."

More:
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4421
More:
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4421

between Kissinger, Bush I, Nixon and the goons in Argentina and Chile in the 1970s. Of course the catholic church is always linked to the most evil elements in society.

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