On 6 July, Senior Legal Officer International Criminal Law, Eduardo Toledo, gave a lecture on "Transitional Justice and Business Companies in Argentina" to students of the Human Rights Master Program at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen Nuremberg. This lecture was part of the module "Transitional Justice" directed by Dr. Rainer Huhle.
The policy of state terrorism of the last Dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983) concluded in the enforced disappearance of 30.000 persons and terrible consequences for the economy of the country. After the first trial against the members of the ‘Junta Militar’ in 1985, the political blackmail of the unions, some politicians and the Military Forces imposed a long period of impunity.
The civil society claimed for the identification and the punishment of different actors, but this hankers were only achieved after a Supreme Court decision in 2003 declaring the unconstitutionality of the impunity laws and the presidential pardons. After that, the process of “Memoria, Verdad y Justicia” (Memory, Truth and Justice) reactivated for good with trials in many provinces.
The lecture focused on transitional justice and dealing with the past in Argentinia. In particular, the topic of bringing civil actors of a dictatorship to justice was highlighted. As Mr. Toledo said, “the fight for the three elements would be completed once the civil contributors and business men would be judged”.
