In Berlin, the apartment of a German-Argentinian is searched. During Argentina’s military dictatorship, the 75-year-old is said to have tortured and murdered 15 members of the opposition. The investigations in Germany and Argentina have been running at full speed for years.
In Berlin, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the General Public Prosecutor’s Office have searched the home of a German-Argentinian who is said to have worked as an officer during the Argentine military dictatorship in the 1970s. He was accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering 15 young people, the investigators said. The now 75-year-old is said to have commanded a unit of tactical divers from 1976 to early 1977 as second in command at a naval base. It was said that these persecuted alleged and actual members of the opposition.
During Argentina’s military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, many thousands of opposition figures, including left-wing trade union leaders and students, were arrested, tortured and killed. Many simply disappeared without a trace. The Mar del Plata naval base was one of about 360 secret detention camps, the investigators said. In these detention camps, members of the opposition were tortured and then often killed: they were given an alleged drug to treat motion sickness, which was in fact a narcotic. Then they were thrown alive from a plane into the sea or an estuary from a great height.
The accused has been under investigation in Argentina and Germany for years, it said. He apparently fled to Germany because of the Argentine procedure and was not extradited because of his dual nationality. The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office then initiated separate proceedings against him. So far, many witnesses have been heard and files from Argentina have been evaluated. The apartment was searched to find documents or data carriers that could provide information about the 75-year-old’s role in the disappearance or killing of opposition figures.
