Seven former members of Argentina’s military were convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the country’s last dictatorship (1976-1983) at the Federal Oral Court in Corrientes on Tuesday morning. Three of the men were convicted for the first time of crimes that include kidnapping and torture.

The ruling is a bittersweet moment for Corrientes: it was the largest human rights trial in the province’s history, with 10 men in the dock and over 100 victims. But it was also subject to such a long delay that two of the accused died before it started, and three more were not made to stand trial because of their health.

Former infantry regiment officials Horacio Losito and Juan Carlos De Marchi were sentenced to 25 years in prison, while former gendarmes Raúl Reynoso and Pedro Alarcón, got 18 and four years, respectively. VII Brigade command officer Eduardo Antonio Cardoso received a 15 year sentence.

Also sentenced were former 9th Infantry Regiment officials Abelardo Carlos De la Vega  (12 years), and Raúl Horacio Harsich (eight years).

Former VII Brigade member Alfredo Farmache and former gendarme commander Abelardo Palma were acquitted.

Cardoso, De la Vega and Alarcón were standing trial for the first time, 40 years after the end of the dictatorship. De Marchi, Losito, Reynoso, and Harsich had prior convictions for crimes against humanity.

The sentences handed down were shorter than those requested by the prosecution. According to Argentina’s human rights secretariat,  state prosecutors will appeal once the court has published the reasoning behind its judgment .

The 7th Infantry Brigade’s had jurisdiction over the northeastern provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Misiones, and part of Corrientes. Several clandestine centers of detention, torture, and murder  were located in that area. One of the largest was the Corrientes 9th Infantry Regiment, where the crimes took place — all 101 victims named in the case were detained there.

Over 1,200 repressors have been convicted since Argentina returned to democracy in 1983. Tuesday’s ruling adds three new names to the list.

Part of the 17-hectare property of the former 9th Infantry Regiment, where the military still operates, was recently turned into a public site of memory. People can now visit the warehouses where the victims were held captive, tortured, and even murdered, as a way to keep the memory of the dictatorship’s crimes alive.
The dates of hearings and other information about Argentina’s ongoing human rights trials can be found on the Juicios de Lesa website.