Argentine lawmakers vote to annul amnesty laws

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- In a move that was cheered by human rights groups, legislators in Argentina's lower house voted to throw out amnesty laws that effectively ended trials over abuses during the country's military dictatorship.

The House vote on Tuesday came after more than seven hours of debate during which lawmakers re-examined the legacy of the junta years.

By a show of hands, the 186 House deputies present approved the annulments and sent the measure to the Senate for final congressional debate. The Senate debate started Wednesday.

The vote was unanimous, though 51 deputies were absent. A simple majority was needed for passage.

Hours earlier, thousands of leftist militants and human rights activists waved banners and beat drums, demanding action by the House of Deputies.

"No to Impunity!" read one banner in a crowd that swelled beyond 6,000 people. Another banner was scrawled with the message: "Jail for Genocide."

At issue is the fate of Argentina's "Full Stop" and "Due Obedience" laws, enacted in 1986 and 1987, respectively. Those laws effectively ended human rights trials after the dictatorship.

Some 9,000 people were officially reported as dead or missing after the 1976-1983 dictatorship, but human rights groups estimated the number could be as high as 30,000.

Following Argentina's dictatorship, many ranking military officers were tried on charges of abduction, torture and execution of suspected leftist opponents of the regime. They were imprisoned in 1985 and later pardoned in 1990 by then-President Carlos Menem.

Opponents charge that the "Full Stop" and "Due Obedience" laws effectively cut off further prosecutions. They also complain that the laws were enacted by a fledgling democratic government bent on appeasing army leaders angry over the trials.

A new president, Nestor Kirchner, began his four-year term in May by moving to reorganize the military high command and dropping several officers who began their careers as junior officers during the junta years. He also has said he would do all possible to strengthen Argentina's much-criticized justice system.

Meanwhile, a move in Congress to overturn the amnesty laws gained new ground late last month after dozens of former military officers from dictatorship were detained by a federal judge.

Many of the 45 former officers are wanted in Spain in connection with the deaths or disappearances of its citizens in Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

Lower courts repeatedly have challenged the constitutionality of the amnesty laws, and human rights groups have called on Argentina to overturn those laws and reopen investigations into alleged human rights violations.

As she marched Tuesday, human rights activist Laura Conte said she hoped Argentina's lower House would act swiftly and decisively.

"We are going to do away with impunity," vowed Conte, a member of the group known as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

Conte joined the other white kerchief-wearing mothers, who have been marching for years to demand an official accounting of their sons and daughters who vanished in the junta years.

Elsewhere in Buenos Aires, military officers and family members who marched in a separate protest last week insisted there was no point to reopening old wounds. They said many military officers were doing their duty to defend their country and that the amnesty laws, coupled with a 1990 pardon, should have permanently closed a chapter in history.