Catholic Priest on trial for dictatorship killings, torture
Pastor Dale Morgan
Catholic Priest on trial for dictatorship killings, torture*
LA PLATA, Argentina (AFP) - - A Roman Catholic priest notorious for his
collaboration with Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship went on trial
Thursday, charged with involvement in murders, kidnappings and torture.
Heavy security surrounded the courthouse in La Plata, 57 kilometers (35
miles) south of Buenos Aires as the trial got under way, with defendant
Christian Von Wernich wearing a bullet-proof vest.
A number of victims of the military dictatorship sat in the courtroom,
separated from the defendant by a glass screen. Also present were
members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo group, whose children are
among the 30,000 people who "disappeared" under the military government.
Outside the courthouse, demonstrators sang religious hymns. One banner
read": "May God forgive you but we want justice."
Von Wernich 69, is accused of participation in seven murders, 42
kidnappings, and 31 cases of torture during the dictatorship, when he
was chaplain to the Buenos Aires police force.
The priest is accused of using his religious position to obtain
confessions from prisoners, which he passed on to the police who
tortured them at clandestine detention centers.
Von Wernich allegedly attended torture sessions on several occasions.
He was arrested in 2003 after amnesty laws passed at the end of the
dictatorship were declared unconstitutional.
More than 100 witnesses are to be called during the trial, which is
expected to last three months.