Former Argentine dictator Videla receives 50-year prison sentence.
Jorge Rafael Videla, 86, was convicted of kidnapping babies during the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983).
247 – The kidnapping of babies during the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983) earned former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, currently 86 years old, a 50-year prison sentence. According to the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, 500 babies disappeared during that period and were given to military families. 105 of these young people have been recovered, and they are now around 30 years old.
General Videla angered Argentinians last week by making controversial comments on the matter. "Despite respecting them as mothers, the pregnant women mentioned by the prosecution were activists who used their embryos as human shields during combat," he said in his defense. Alan Iud, from the legal team of the Grandmothers, said the sentence was fitting because the kidnapping of babies "is what distinguishes the cruelty of the Argentine dictatorship compared to others in the region."
Videla was tried along with Reynaldo Bignone, the last leader of the dictatorship in the country, among other former military officers. Sentenced in 2010 to life imprisonment by a court in Córdoba (for the execution of dozens of political prisoners in 1976), Videla has accumulated several trials for various crimes committed during the Argentine military regime.