Image Source: www.lapoliticaonline.com

BY NOE GANDILLOT

He was called the “blond angel of death”. More than 30 years after his crimes, former Argentinian naval officer Alfredo Astiz has been sentenced to life in jail. France 24 has the details:

“In the streets outside a Buenos Aires court, the crowd erupts. Alfredo Astiz has just been handed a life sentence for crimes against humanity. Dubbed the angel of death, He was responsible for acts of torture and the murder of leftist activists during Argentina’s dictatorship in the seventies and eigthies.”

Alfredo Astiz, nicknamed for his cherubic look, was the cornerstone of a repressive military system that killed thousands of its own people between 1976 and 1983.  This dark period of Argentina’s history is now referred to as the “Dirty War”. Fox News reports:

“Captain Alfredo Astiz was the most prominent of the 18 defendants in the "mega-case" for abductions, killings and torture carried out by teams operating from the Navy Mechanics School in Buenos Aires, which functioned as the junta's largest secret prison.”

Nearly 5,000 dissidents were tortured and killed inside the clandestine prison.
Among them -- two French nuns. France’s Le Monde tells how the ‘Angel of Death’ infiltrated a group of victims’ mothers who were looking their their missing children: (Image source : Channel 4)

"Pretending He was looking for his missing brother, Alfredo Astiz infiltrated the association of victims’ mothers where the two French nuns were working. They had become fond of the handsome, blue-eyed 26 year-old young man with a baby-face who claimed his name was Gustavo Niño. He would designate the victims to be killed by kissing them on the chick.”

The niece of one of the French nuns told the BBC she felt relieved :

“After the trial, something is complete. It is as if a circle is closed - a difficult circle of years of suffering, where justice has been done. I think justice and truth should emerge, and today, justice has emerged.”

Although the victims’ families were happy to see Astiz finally judged for his crimes,
France’s RFI reports the blonde angel was smiling after the verdict - and declared he did not feel sorry about anything. (Image source: Channel 4)

“From the start of his trial on, he showed unbelievable arrogance. He declared : ‘This is no trial,  this is political persecution that does not seek justice. (...) This mock trial won’t be an example but a shame for the Republic’”.

Between 10 and 30 000 people were killed during Argentina’s ‘Dirty War”.

World News: Blond Angel of Death Sentenced to Life

The 'Blond Angel of Death' Sentenced to Life in Jail

October 28, 2011
(2:33)
Alfredo Astiz was sentenced to life in jail for his crimes committed during Argentina's "Dirty War."
   
TRANSCRIPT

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