Inter-American Court orders Uruguay to acknowledge dictatorship murders and compensate victims’ families

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The three girls were executed on April 21, 1974, by Uruguayan military and the case became known in the press as “the April girls” or “las pibas de abril.”

One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys Martin Fernandez, said that it is important that the state be held accountable because “it confirms the legitimacy of the claim and the reason for the relatives to continue their desperate search for the remains and to know what happened to their relatives.”

The ruling holds the country responsible for the forced disappearance of two people during the dictatorship and for the “investigation proceedings” in the case of the violent death of three young women. The ruling was announced in a press release on Monday.

“The IACHR declared the State of Uruguay internationally responsible for the violations of various human rights against Luis Eduardo González González and Óscar Tassino Asteazu (victims of forced disappearances that began during the dictatorship in Uruguay between 1973 and 1985), and their families. It also ruled on Uruguay’s international responsibility for human rights violations against the relatives of Diana Maidanik, Silvia Reyes and Laura Raggio (executed by the military at that time),” it said.

It added that “more than three decades later, the full truth about the events is still unknown, nor have all the criminal responsibilities for these facts been determined.” It further established the obligation to “conduct a thorough search through the relevant judicial and administrative channels,” and to provide the affected families with psychological support.

The Court also ruled that the State did not properly investigate the violent deaths of Maidanik, Reyes and Raggio and consequently the rights of their families to legal guarantees and protection were violated.

The ruling establishes the obligation of reparation measures that include further investigations, psychological support to the victims’ families and a public act of acknowledgement of responsibility for the events in the case.

Furthermore, incorporating human rights studies in the training and educational programs of the Armed Forces schools was also proposed. The Uruguayan State was also instructed to strengthen the Prosecutor’s Office specializing in Human Rights. It called for the “adoption of a strategic plan aimed at prosecuting and duly punishing the perpetrators of acts of violence against women committed during the civil-military dictatorship.”

According to attorney Fernandez, Uruguay voluntarily and sovereignly ratified the American Convention on Human Rights and the jurisdiction of the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. “Failure to comply with this ruling implies denying the very legitimacy of being part of the Organization of American States, denying its own legitimacy in any claim. It must be fulfilled because the State sovereignly assumed its jurisdiction,” he said.

STATUS OF CASES

So far there are no defendants in the case investigating the murders of the “April girls.” They were killed on April 21, 1974 in an operation led by José Nino Gavazzo and Juan Rebollo in search of Tupamaro militant Washington Barrios.

In February 2021, Crimes against Humanity prosecutor Ricardo Perciballe called for the arraignment and imprisonment of Gavazzo, Juan Rebollo and Eduardo Klastornick. However, Gavazzo and Klastornick died in mid 2021.

The case is being investigated by the 23rd Criminal Court. In the case investigating the disappearances of communist militant Óscar Tassino, 27th criminal judge Silvia Urioste sentenced retired colonel Eduardo Ferro to imprisonment in April this year. Tassino was arrested in July 1977 by members of the Coordinating Agency of Anti-subversive Operations and transferred to a prison where he died under torture.

The remaining case, which investigates the disappearance of communist Luis Eduardo “Chiqui” Gonzalez, is currently in the preliminary stage and no prosecution requests have been filed. He was arrested at his home along with his wife, who was four months pregnant. Both were taken to the Cavalry Regiment and both died there, with no knowledge of the whereabouts of their children.