Witness in Human Rights Trial Mysteriously Dies

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

CORDOBA, Argentina – Jesus Gonzalez, a key witness in an Argentina human rights trial, was found dead in the bathroom of his home with a fatal stab wound to his chest.  Gonzalez was scheduled to testify against former Argentinean army general, Luciano Benjamin Menendez.  Menendez is accused of human rights violations during Argentina’s military dictatorship, from 1976 to 1983.  More specifically, Menendez is accused of illegal detention, torturing prisoners, and aggravated homicide.

 

Gonzalez’s death was initially thought to have been a suicide, however, when it was discovered that he was linked to the trial of Menendez, officials say that the suspicious circumstances lead them to believe that there may have been a malicious motive behind Gonzalez’s death.

 

Gonzalez was a key witness to the trial of Menendez because he had been a guard at a detention center in Cordoba during Menendez’s reign.  It was there that Gonzalez witnessed the torture and homicide of his countrymen under the direction of Menendez.  The prisoners at the detention centers like the one that Gonzalez had worked at, were mostly students, labor leaders, intellectuals, and left wing individuals whose political views did not line up with the governments.  Most of the people who were held in Menendez’s secret jails were arrested off the street and held without trials proving their alleged crimes.

 

Menendez had previously been accused of almost 800 human rights violations in connection with his dictatorship, however, due to a special amnesty law, he was immune from prosecution.  It was not until 2006 that the amnesty law was lifted and Menendez was held accountable for his actions.

 

This particular case which Gonzalez was supposed to testify in centered around the torture and death of Fermin Albareda, who was a member of the People’s Revolutionary Army, Argentina’s communist party during Menendez’s dictatorship.    

 

It has been estimated that approximately 30,000 people disappeared or were held in these secret jails during Argentina’s military dictatorship. 

 

For more information, please see:

 

UPI - Witness in Argentine torture trial dies - 21 October 2009

 

V MAS V - Autoridades argentinas investigan la muerte de un testigo clave - 21 October 2009

 

CNN – Police probe death of witness in Argentina human rights trial - 20 October 2009