The Hindu : International : "Death flight" officer gets jail term

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 21, 2005

International

International

"Death flight" officer gets jail term

By Giles Tremlett- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

MADRID: An Argentinean former naval officer who threw prisoners, drugged and naked, to their death from planes was convicted of crimes against humanity and jailed for a total of 640 years by a Spanish court on Tuesday for his part in the ``dirty war'' against dissidents conducted by the Argentinean military regime in the 1970s. Captain Adolfo Scilingo killed 30 Left-wing prisoners, who were thrown out at 4,000 metres above the Atlantic, on two flights.Scilingo (58), will serve a maximum of 30 years. The judgment, reached by three judges in the national court in Madrid, described how naval officers tortured victims with electric shocks which burned their flesh. The torture sessions were called ``barbecues''.Judge Jose Ricardo de Prada, delivering the judgment, said: ``As a macabre joke, they would make them [the prisoners] dance to Brazilian music.''

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