Uruguay's Supreme Court overturns law allowing prosecution of human rights violators.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
In just eight days, between Feb. 14 and 22, Uruguay's Suprema Corte de Justicia (SCJ) steamrolled over human rights, destroying what little had been accomplished in 28 years of democracy to judge crimes against humanity committed by state terrorism during the worst civilian-military dictatorship (1973-1985) in the country's history.
First, the SCJ demoted without cause Judge Mariana Mota, who specialized in human rights, transferring her from criminal court to civil court. It then ruled unconstitutional Ley 18.831, according to which no statute of limitations could be applied to crimes committed during the dictatorship.
Mota was investigating and in many cases was ready to hand down sentences in cases involving more than 50 kidnappers, torturers, persons responsible for forced disappearances, and those who took babies born to prisoners from their mother's womb and then killed the mothers.
In a country in which only 11 military and two civilians have been sentenced, Mota was the one who had the courage to sentence former dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry and his foreign minister Juan Carlos Blanco to 45 years in prison (NotiSur, March 19. 2010).
Ley 18.831 corrected the legal aberrations of the amnesty law--Ley de Caducidad de la Pretension Punitiva del Estado (law on the expiry of the punitive claims of the state)--which was severely challenged by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and other ecumenical bodies (NotiSur, April 15. 2011).
Judge Jorge Ruibal Pino, president of the SCJ since Feb. 1, said that Mota's demotion was motivated by "technical reasons," an explanation repudiated by a group of 23 political and social human rights organizations. His colleague Justice Jorge Chediak committed the crime/sin of lying by saying that Mota was demoted because she was the subject of several investigations. Those allegations were disproved within hours.
Supreme Court shuns IACHR
In declaring Ley 18.831 unconstitutional, the SCJ ignored an IACHR decision, the unanimous opinion of multinational nongovernmental human rights organizations, and international conventions signed by Uruguay. Voting with the majority were Judges Ruibal Pino, Chediak, Julio Cesar Chalar, and Jorge Larrieux.
Both decisions were praised by conservative political parties and media as well as the three rightist post-dictatorship former presidents--Julio Maria Sanguinetti (1985-1990, 1995-2000), Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-1995), and Jorge Batlle (2000-2005). They were...
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