The plaintiff lawyers of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo in the oral and public trial that is taking place against ex-marine Adolfo Miguel Donda for the appropriation of his biological niece, the restored granddaughter and current holder of the Inadi, Victoria Dondaanticipate that the repressor will deny “any type of responsibility” for the facts that are imputed to him when tomorrow he has to give an investigative statement in the process that is being followed.
“Most likely, he will maintain the line of the previous statements, which is to deny any type of responsibility for the facts,” he analyzed in dialogue with Télam. Carolina Villella, plaintiff lawyer for Abuelas in this case.
Along the same lines, his partner in the lawsuit, Emanuel Lovelliconfided to this agency that the expectations before the investigation “are cautious” on the part of the legal representation that integrates, because the ex-marine “surely exposes a very indoctrinated speech, typical of the last dictatorship and in war mode”.
However, Lovelli acknowledged that before the declaration of repressors they always maintain “the hope that they can contribute something of truth”, although he agreed that Adolfo Donda will testify with “a mere exculpation of what he is accused of”.
The repressor will be investigated this Monday from 10 o’clock by the Federal Criminal Oral Court (TOF) number 6 of Comodoro Py, made up of Ricardo Basilico, Daniel Horacio Obligado and Gabriela López Iñíguez, and will be able to defend himself against the accusation for the crimes retention and concealment of Victoria Donda.
Victoria is the daughter of the repressor’s younger brother, José María Laureano Donda, and María Hilda “Cori” Pérez, both kidnapped at the end of March 1977 by an Air Force task force and transferred to the 3rd Castelar Police Station.
Later, in May of that year, María Hilda Pérez was taken to the clandestine detention center that operated in the former Navy School of Mechanics, where she gave birth to her daughter in August.
In that clandestine center, Adolfo Donda was appointed Chief of Operations in 1978and according to evidence from the testimonies of survivors incorporated in the investigation stage -but who have not yet declared before the TOF number 6-, Donda visited her sister-in-law when she was kidnapped in 1977. For Villella, this element constitutes proof of “power”. of Adolfo Donda inside the clandestine detention center that operated at ESMA.
“Without being formally assigned, he had access to the detainees. The ex-marine was not just another link. He was part of the hardest core” of that clandestine center, Vilella said.
For his crimes as a member of Navy task force 3.3.2, Donda was twice sentenced to life imprisonment in the cases known as ESMA II (2011) and ESMA III (2017).
In the statements he gave in the framework of these cases, the repressor already acknowledged having been part of that task force and having participated in kidnappings. “If we analyze his previous statements, the convictions and the rest of the evidence that was incorporated, the degree of participation that he had in the events that were investigated by ESMA is very clear,” the complainant analyzed.
At the same time, he evaluated how “a clear defense strategy”that on the occasions where he testified in the case for the appropriation of his niece “he always denied the facts”, since, according to the lawyer, “he has no way to justify himself.”
In this line, he analyzed that the repressor “had such a degree of involvement with the security forces that it prevented him from taking measures” to help his relatives.
“In fact, all the activities that he carried out at the ESMA linked to María Hilda show that he strictly complied with the protocol applied to pregnant womenVillalla explained.
In the Systematic Plan for the Appropriation of Minors case, the operation of the ESMA clandestine maternity hospital was proven, which included the transfer of pregnant detainees to give birth there and the attempt to convince them that their children were going to be handed over to their relatives when In reality, his identity was going to be stolen.
“The delivery of babies to other people has to do with erasing any kind of trace that allows linking the kidnappings of mothers and births with repressive circuits,” said lawyer Carolina Villella.
Among the testimonies incorporated in the investigation stage is a survivor who assured that the ex-marine also told his sister-in-law during one of his visits that her daughter “would be handed over to her relatives.”
The Argentine Criminal Code does not provide for an aggravating factor that contemplates the link for the crimes for which he is being tried Adolfo Donda in the trial for the appropriation of his niece.
However, the complaint of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo told Télam that in the pleadings stage it will request that the Court take this circumstance into account to request the amount of the penalty.
“What they did is so harmful that it was very difficult to anticipate to be able to regulate it in the Criminal Code, because the reality is that one cannot even imagine such a situation in their worst nightmares,” reflected Villella.
The trial carried out by the TOF 6 is the second process carried out in the case of Victoria Donda, since the prefect Juan Antonio Azic -also a member of the ESMA Task Group 3.3.2- was sentenced in 2012 for the abduction of Victoria Donda, whom she registered as her own daughter under the name of Claudia Analía Azic.
Villella warned that also there are surviving witnesses who recounted that “they were jointly tortured by Donda and Azic”which he pointed out as a sign of the link between the repressors since “the baby was not given to anyone.”
“In (Adolfo) Donda there is an internalization of the Systematic Plan of repression to the point that he handed over his niece to a colleague from the task force without helping his sister-in-law or his brother either,” the lawyer analyzed.
This Monday’s hearing is the third day of the process that began on November 7, with the reading of the accusations against the accused, and continued on November 14 with the raising of preliminary issues by the defense, the prosecution and the complaint of grandmothers.
The transmission of the trial can be followed by streaming on the page of the Judiciary (youtube.com/watch?v=yixsp8pbtH0) and by the information site La Retaguardia (youtube.com/channel/UCRYqgxVNRz9pbdiHBsH-RAQ).
