Right Livelihood Award Laureates Celebrate Historic Verdict in Argentina

From Afghanistan to Argentina, Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award celebrated the outcome of a landmark human rights trial that concluded in Córdoba, Argentina’s second-biggest city, yesterday.

Twenty-eight ex-military officers, including a former general, were handed life sentences for their involvement in crimes against humanity. Specifically, they faced charges for crimes committed against 716 persons between 1975-1978, with over half of these being murders or enforced disappearances. The verdict also recognised sexual violence and kidnapping of babies. The Argentine dictatorship is responsible for the killings and disappearances of an estimated 30,000 people four decades ago.

Some ten thousand people gathered outside Córdoba’s Federal Tribunal to hear the verdict. One of them was Raúl Montenegro, 2004 Right Livelihood Award Laureate, who said: “This is a day of light for justice in Argentina and all over the planet.” During the rally that followed the hearing, Argentinian human rights organisations thanked the Right Livelihood Award Laureates who have followed the sentencing and sent their messages of support from afar.

Read the press release in English and Spanish.