Ex-air force chief sentenced to 25 years in Argentina

By Maria Paz Salas

SANTIAGO, Chile (AA) – An Argentinian court on Thursday sentenced former Air Force chief Omar Graffigna to 25 years in prison for the kidnapping and the disappearances of activists during the country’s dictatorship.

Graffigna, 90, was convicted of kidnapping activists Patricia Roisinblit and Jose Manuel Perez Rojo, in 1978. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Roisinblit was pregnant when she was taken to a secret detention camp, along with Perez Rojo and their 15-moth-old daughter, Mariana.

They were transferred to the Navy Mechanics School, one of the largest detention and torture centers in the capital, Buenos Aires.

Although Mariana was eventually handed over to her grandparents, the couple was never found.

The activist is the granddaughter of the vice president of the human rights group, Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Rosa Roisinblit who said after the sentence that “I see that the justice arrives late, but still arrives”.

Guillermo Perez, a son Roisinblit birthed during her detention, was a plaintiff in the case. He was one of 120 grandchildren recovered by Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, and was able to regain his identity in 2000 after he was found by his sister.

The former head of Regional Intelligence of Buenos Aires, Luis Trillo, along with Francisco Gomez who worked as a civilian member of the Air Force, were also sentenced Thursday to 25 and 12 years, respectively, on kidnapping and other charges in the case.

Human rights groups estimate 30,000 victims were killed or disappeared during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.