Buenos Aires, July 7 (Bureau) A court in Argentina has sentenced 19 former military officers to long terms for committing crimes against humanity during the military dictatorship in 1976-83. The crimes included disappearances, murder, torture and kidnapping children.According to BBC, among those sentenced was General Santiago Riveros, previously convicted for other human rights violations. He was handed down life sentence on Wednesday after being found guilty of more than 100 crimes.
The federal court in Buenos Aires had rued that the crimes were commited against about 350 victims, including six auto plant workers of Mercedes Benz factory who were abducted by right-wing death squads for having union sympathies.After Gen Jorge Videla-led military government took over power in Argentina on March 24, 1976 it began its campaign to wipe out the left-wing opponents.Some 30,000 people were killed or forcibly disappeared during the “Dirty War”, as the campaign came to be known, BBC reported.