Argentine Trial Opens; Rights March Staged

Amid tensions that spilled from a packed courtroom into the streets, three former Argentine military presidents and six members of juntas they commanded went on public trial here Monday on charges of massive human rights violations.

A dramatic accusation by President Raul Alfonsin on the eve of the trial that right-wing politicians have conspired to destabilize his government fueled disquiet and national controversy.

“I consider this trial fundamentally political,” snapped one of the 22 lawyers defending former Presidents Jorge Rafael Videla, Roberto Viola and Leopoldo F. Galtieri and junta members who ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

None of the nine chose to appear in court Monday, the opening day of a trial that is expected to last five months.

As a six-judge panel heard testimony from officials of an elected Peronist government overthrown in 1976, thousands of human rights activists and their leftist political allies marched through downtown streets.

Many Carry Placards

Many demonstrators carried placards bearing the name of an individual among some 9,000 Argentines who are still missing from Argentina’s so-called “dirty war” against Marxist guerrillas.

“Punishment for all of the guilty!” the marchers demanded in somber procession under the gaze of riot police who kept the demonstration well away from the federal court building.

Opening trial testimony focused on orders to the armed forces to combat Marxist rural and urban guerrillas, given in 1975 when it became clear that civilian police forces could not cope. The defense asserts that the armed forces were instructed to “annihilate” the guerrillas, using any means necessary.

The first witness, Italo Luder, a Peronist leader who signed decrees for military intervention while serving as interim president in 1975, said the word “annihilate” was never meant to authorize repression outside the law. “The decree presumed that personal guarantees and due process remained in place. We never imagined the armed forces would abandon the rule of law,” Luder said.

No Order to ‘Annihilate’

Other Peronist ministers testifying Monday said the instructions to the armed forces were to wipe out subversion but not to kidnap or, as one of them put it, “to annihilate people.”

Presiding Justice Leon C. Arslanian politely questioned witnesses from an ornate bench where he and five other judges, who are also the jury, sat before a stark crucifix and stained glass window.

The proceeding superficially resembled an American trial in its public nature--rare in Argentine jurisprudence. However, Arslanian forbade direct cross examination, with all questions to witnesses routed through the judge.

Resisting pressures from the left to extend judgments to lower-ranking officers and demands from the right for an amnesty, President Alfonsin has staked his political reputation on the prosecution of the former commanders.

“This is a trial without international precedent, one of such importance that I consider it will end 50 years of democratic frustration and national decadence,” he said in an extraordinary broadcast address Sunday night.

Discarding euphemism and presidential niceties, Alfonsin reviled “shameful . . . befuddled” right-wing politicians he said have wooed military officers with suggestions of a coup. The officers not only rebuffed the overtures but also reported them, Alfonsin said. He promised that “interruption of constitutional order is absolutely improbable. The situation is controlled by the constitutional government.”

An elected official who has held uneasy power since December, 1983, Alfonsin said his enemies, whom he did not name directly, have neither military nor popular support.

“Not all officers understand the trial,” he said. “There are some who consider it unfair, but even through gritted teeth they are willing to submit to the norms, the principles and the methods of the rule of law.”