The relatives of those known as girls of april – three women murdered by the Armed Forces in the middle of the civil-military dictatorship – resolved to request that the public act of reparation for this crime that the Uruguayan State was going to hold be suspended, in view of the sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). ).
As reported by the weekly Búsqueda, the decision of the relatives responds to the decision of President Luis Lacalle Pou not to attend the event and instead appoint the Vice President of the Republic, Beatriz Argimón, as representative.
In a letter addressed to the IACHR, the relatives expressed their annoyance at this decision, confirmed to The Observer Martin Fernandez, lawyer from the Institute of Legal and Social Studies of Uruguay (Ielsur), an organization that represents the relatives.
As the relatives understand, it is Lacalle Pou who should attend the public event in his role as commander of the Armed Forces.
“The president’s presence at the act is a central aspect to turn the instance into a true act of reparation for the victims as well as to send a message to society, and especially to the Armed Forces, which are the ones who have the majority of the information necessary to find the whereabouts of the remains of the disappeared persons“, says a letter sent to the IACHR.
In turn, they affirm that, despite their insistence, in two meetings they were informed that the person who would preside over the event would be Argimón. “I respect Argimón’s investiture but she represents Parliament,” Fernández told The Observer.
The relatives decided not to attend the scheduled meeting since they considered that the event was not being organized jointly. “We ask that the president be there and that it also be in a public placeFernandez added.
The sentence in the case of the Girls of April was issued in 2021 by the IACHR and is binding on Uruguay because it has been a member of that organization since 1985.
In that sentence, the court ruled against the Uruguayan State for acts committed during the dictatorship: it convicted it of being “responsible” for the “lack of investigative diligence” in the case of the murder of these three women and the forced disappearance of two men .
The court understood that Uruguay has “international responsibility” in human rights violations of the relatives of Diana Maidanik, Silva Reyes and Laura Raggio, the girls of april who were assassinated in that month of 1974 in an operation by the joint forces.
The international body condemned the Uruguayan State to “continue the investigations” to “punish those responsible” of executions and disappearances, according to each case, and ordered that a public act of recognition be held on these situations.
In February 2021, the prosecution of Juan Rebollo, José Gavazzo and Eduardo Klastornick for the murders was requested. In June 2022, Rebollo ended up being sentenced to prison for three highly aggravated crimes of homicide as a co-perpetrator, while Gavazzo and Klastornick died while the judicial process was taking place.
