Latest update: 11/12/2009 

- Argentina - justice - torture


Alfredo Astiz, the 'blond angel of death', in the dock

This Friday, Alfredo Astiz goes on trial in Buenos Aires for crimes against humanity. Known as the 'blond angel of death', this former navy captain is accused of being one of the most ruthless torturers and executioners of Argentina's military dictatorship (1976-1983).

Today's Focus guests are Sophie Thonon, lawyer for the families of two French nuns allegedly kidnapped annd executed by Alfredo Astiz, and Daniel Schweimler, GRN correspondent for FRANCE 24 in Buenos Aires.

Could methane hydrate solve Tokyo's energy crisis?
08/05/2013 - Japan

Could methane hydrate solve Tokyo's energy crisis?

After 10 years of research, Japanese engineers have extracted offshore methane hydrate from beneath the ocean floor. The substance, more commonly called flammable ice, is a great hope for the future of Japan, which desperately lacks energy since almost all of its nuclear reactors remain shut after the Fukushima disaster. France 24 asks if methane hydrates will solve the energy puzzle for Japan, or even the world.
South Dakota introduces law allowing teachers to carry guns
07/05/2013 - USA

South Dakota introduces law allowing teachers to carry guns

It is now more than four months since 20 children and six adults were gunned down at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. At the time, President Obama declared that enough was enough, and that new gun laws had to be brought in. But all the proposals from the White House for new legislation have come to nothing: every one of them has failed in Congress. Gun culture remains alive and well in the US, especially in the rural heartland, as our correspondent found out.
Germany's 'trial of the year' begins as alleged neo-Nazi appears in court
06/05/2013 - GERMANY

Germany's 'trial of the year' begins as alleged neo-Nazi appears in court

Germany's trial of the year, that of Beate Zschäpe, is opening in Munich. She's the sole survivor of the NSU terror cell and alleged accomplice in 9 racially motivated murders. The case will revisit a scandal that shook the Turkish community: for years, police ignored clues that suggested racist attacks and instead blamed the mafia. Victims’ relatives were even suspects. Turks in Germany began to believe that authorities were blind to detecting racist crimes. Will the trial change that?
North Korea, Russia, Syria and Iran named worst countries for press freedom
03/05/2013 - MEDIA

North Korea, Russia, Syria and Iran named worst countries for press freedom

Reporters Without Borders has published its press freedom index, ranking 179 countries. The NGO singled out Kim Jong-Un, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad as the world's worst press freedom predators. Ninety professional journalists were killed in 2012, a record since the press freedom group started its reports. Syria was the world's most dangerous country, with 18 professional reporters killed.
Malaysian opposition optimistic ahead of general election
03/05/2013 - MALAYSIA

Malaysian opposition optimistic ahead of general election

Malaysians head to the polls this Sunday, and for the first time since independence in 1957, an opposition party could clinch victory. The ruling party, Barisan Nasional, is the world's longest continually elected governing coalition. Yet it has become increasingly unpopular over the past five years. Malaysians are now voicing disapproval at widespread allegations of corruption.

React to the article
Comment this article typing your message in the above text zone. Please note that this is limited to 1500 characters or less.
(1) Reaction

Astiz

It's a shame that they do not talk about the guerrilla's crimes against humanity and the Argentinian people. About this lawyer of the so call "victims", you can tell that the only thing she wants is money. Crime against humanity? Who was the one who started the "dirty war"?, the communists in Argentina or Fidel Castra with his soul mate Che Guevara's ideology, that now has turn on to be a symbol of people's enmancipation; ask him of the hundreds of people that were summary executed and tortured in the Cabanas (Havana) prison after Castra took over ; in the same way that this "revolutionaries" wanted to do after they taken over power. Like all this political illiterate journalists that only know how to read news with their femmine look, Lenin said that the means justified the end, so I agree with Astiz and all the Junta people in erradicating this cancer, thanks to them, her husband and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner have been able to take them to trial and convict them, but definetly it would not have been the same in it would have been other way around if the "victims" have taken over.

Read more
Close