First priest convicted of abuses during Argentina's dictatorship

Oct 10, 2007, 5:08 GMT

Buenos Aires - A Catholic priest, for the first time, has been convicted of human rights abuses committed during Argentina's military dictatorship and sentenced to life in prison.

Former police chaplain Christian Federico Von Wernich, now 69, was sentenced Tuesday night by a court in La Plata, 50 kilometres south of Buenos Aires, after being found guilty of participating in seven murders, 31 incidents of torture and 42 kidnappings of opponents of the regime that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

Jubilation broke out among the hundreds of people gathered in and outside the courthouse when the verdict was read, and drivers laid on their car horns throughout the country as the news spread.

'We never thought we'd live to see this,' said Tati Almeyda, a spokeswoman for the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of mothers campaigning for justice and news of the fates of their children who disappeared during the dictatorship. 'The church, which did so much harm to us, is finally experiencing justice.'

Eduardo Luis Duhalde, the government's human rights secretary, spoke of a historic verdict as the case focussed attention on the Catholic Church's failure to condemn human rights abuses during the military regime 'Dirty War.'

Argentina's Catholic Bishops Conference said it was shaken by 'the pain caused by the participation of a priest in very serious crimes' and called for the case to renew efforts toward reconciliation and 'away from impunity as well as hatred and resentment.'

Von Wernich's defence had argued for an acquittal in the trial that began in July. The priest asserted that he had only performed 'sacramental duties,' but dozens of witnesses implicated him in human rights abuses.

Among the witnesses were 41 survivors of a torture centre operated by the regime, and they said Von Wernich did not serve as a chaplain but as a member of the torture crews.

Von Wernich, who publicly defended torture as a method of fighting leftist guerillas, was charged in 2003 and jailed. He was one of the closest confidants of Ramon Campos, the former security chief of Buenos Aires who is considered one of the chief perpetrators of the human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship. Campos died in 1994.

Human rights groups estimated that about 30,000 regime opponents were killed during the regime's seven years in power.