Jul 13, 2007, 18:59 GMT
Buenos Aires - Argentina's Supreme Court on Friday revoked the pardon granted to a former high-ranking military officer over human rights abuses during the country's last dictatorship.
The Buenos Aires court ruled a pardon granted in 1989 by former Argentine president Carlos Menem to General Santiago Omar Riveros, now 83, was unconstitutional.
The decision could pave the way for the lifting of other pardons, Argentine media reported, including that given to former military ruler Jorge Videla who led a coup on March 24, 1976.
According to human rights associations, some 30,000 people were killed or disappeared after being taken by police or military officials during the dictatorship, which lasted from 1976-83.
The decision could also lead to the revoking of pardons granted by Menem to former left-wing rebel groups like Montoneros and the ERP.
Menem granted the pardons soon after his 1989 election in an attempt to avoid further military coups, after the difficult experience of his predecessor Raul Alfonsin.
The pardons but an end to the prosecution of leading generals of the military regime, who had been condemned to sentences as high as life imprisonment in 1986, and the trials against alleged torturers and murderers active during the regime.
Menem criticized the court's decision on Friday, saying that 'the idea of revoking pardons came from a one-eyed vision' of the Argentine government.
Since current President Nestor Kirchner came to power in 2003, amnesty laws of 1986 and 1987 have already been revoked, prompting Argentine courts to once again try suspects of crimes committed during the dictatorship.
Argentine Defence Minister Nilda Garre said before Friday's ruling that it is vital 'to put an end to the last trace of impunity that was left in Argentina.'
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