Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BUENOSAIRES1239
2008-09-05 14:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

ARGENTINA ENDS ITS MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM

Tags:  PHUM MARR PGOV PREL KJUS AR 
pdf how-to read a cable
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUENOS AIRES 001239 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2018
TAGS: PHUM MARR PGOV PREL KJUS AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA ENDS ITS MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4 (b and d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUENOS AIRES 001239

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2018
TAGS: PHUM MARR PGOV PREL KJUS AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA ENDS ITS MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM

Classified By: Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne for reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (C) Summary: The Argentine Senate on August 6 completed
the legislative journey for a law abolishing the Argentine
military justice system, a change pressed forward by Minister
of Defense Garre. The step fulfills a promise Argentina made
to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and resolves
many areas of conflict between the civilian criminal code and
military code. Both ruling and opposition legislators
broadly and almost unanimously supported the move, though
some in the opposition voiced concern about plans for the
provision of a military justice system for times of war.
Argentina's uniformed military leadership had been
disappointed for some time that Garre did not advocate a
well-developed plan to reform rather than abolish the
military justice system. They were mollified by the decision
to use military justices in wartime and the continuance of
administrative tools of military discipline. End Summary.


2. (U) In response to legislation put forward by the
executive branch and passed in December 2007 in the Chamber
of Deputies, the Argentine Senate voted unanimously August 6
to eliminate the country's military code of justice.
Subsequent Senate votes on specific articles included some
dissent and passed 40 to 20. The legislation will bring to
an end, in six months time, a military justice system that
offered those in uniform s separate judicial track for crimes
committed whether on or off duty. Military justice also
included the death penalty for certain crimes, something not
allowed for under the civil criminal code.


3. (U) Specifically, the reform will mean that members of the
military will be subjected to civilian proceedings for crimes
committed during peacetime and to a new military disciplinary
code for infractions of military rules. Former penalties
such as time in a "stockade" will be replaced by fines or
confinement to quarters. The new disciplinary code will
exclude punishment for homosexuality and incorporates new
penalties for discrimination or sexual harassment. The new

law envisions development of a military criminal procedure
exclusively for times of war, an aspect that raised concerns
among opponents who felt it could create an opening for
government human rights violations under the guise of a
security crisis. Argentina, some senators noted, had a
history of leaders exploiting armed conflict or external
threat to violate the rights of political opponents.

Commitment to the IACHR
--------------


4. (U) The reform reportedly fulfills a commitment Argentina
made in 2004 to the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights. IACHR interest was based on a case brought in 1997
by Argentine Army Captain Rodolfo Correa, who had been
imprisoned for testifying against a superior officer
regarding the 1994 death of a conscript. Although a reform
in 1984 had given civilian appeals courts the right to review
military verdicts, it did not clearly establish a process for
personal legal actions. Defense Minister Nilda Garre
launched the reform effort in 2006, leading a team of legal
experts, including current Supreme Court Justice Eugenio
Zaffaroni, to draft the new law.


5. (U) Reaction to the move by human rights activists ws
positive, although some raised practical and philosophical
concerns about setting up a military justice in time of war.
Gaston Chillier, director of the Center for Legal and Social
Studies (CELS),said it "will avoid both privileges and lack
of warrants in the military." The Grandmothers of the Plaza
de Mayo described it as an important advance, as did the
"founding line" (linea fundadora) of the Mothers of the Plaza
de Mayo.


6. (C) DATT and MILGP contacts among the military leadership
have shared their concerns over the abolition of the military
justice system. A reform proposal that had attracted
significant support from within the military had been under
consideration at the time of Nilda Garre's assumption of the
Ministry, but she reportedly felt it did not go far enough.
In response to her move to abolish the code, military
leadership pressed strongly for the compromise of authorizing
the stand-up of a military justice system during wartime.
Although accepting of the compromise, officers have expressed
unease over how quickly military judges can be instated
during a conflict. One thought is to convert military
lawyers into judges as required. The military may not have

BUENOS AIR 00001239 002 OF 002


fought these changes as hard as might be expected because a
system of administrative discipline for lesser offenses is
already in place and working well.


7. (SBU) Comment: Argentina's deep-seated problems with a
military justice system may seem odd to those from countries
in which such systems function well (e.g., our own nation).
The reason is rooted in the country's history of human rights
abuses, especially the military regime's "Dirty War" of the
1970s and 1980s. Argentina's military code went much further
than military codes in other countries and left open the door
to abuse, either to protect the members of the military from
appropriate punishment or to punish some inappropriately.
Given that many remember the military regime's excesses, the
reform was greeted by most citizens with approval. The
decision to abolish rather than reform the code raises some
practical challenges for the military, but military
leadership has professionally accepted the change without a
public protest. End Comment.
WAYNE