Argentina Blocks Testimony in Italian Rights Hearings

President Carlos Saul Menem’s administration succeeded Wednesday in blocking legal testimony on the disappearances of 82 Italian citizens in Argentina while this country was under military rule.

A judge and a prosecutor from Italy stirred up a hornet’s nest here after arriving Feb. 13 to hear testimony on the disappearances. Military authorities made it known that they were “concerned and irritated” over the Italian proceedings. Past and present military personnel, including former presidents of governing juntas, are implicated in the disappearances and could be tried in absentia in Italy.

Under military pressure, Menem spoke out against the hearings, putting himself in the middle of revived controversy over past human rights violations. Menem’s justice minister initiated a request for an injunction to prevent the hearings. Human rights groups protested.

Argentina’s federal court of appeals ruled Wednesday that the matter is outside the jurisdiction of a lower federal judge who had agreed to aid the Italians in hearing the witnesses. If the judge disputes the ruling, the matter of jurisdiction may be decided by the Supreme Court, but that could take years.

Argentine investigations have documented the disappearances of more than 9,000 civilians in the so-called “dirty war” between security forces and leftists during the 1976-83 regime. Military pressure, including a series of revolts, resulted in amnesties and pardons for hundreds of officers charged with violating human rights.

Before the end of the regime, in 1982, Italian consulates in Argentina had received complaints that more than 600 Italian citizens were among those who had disappeared.