Uruguay Supreme Court rules out human rights trials delving into dictatorship abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Uruguay Supreme Court rules out human rights trials delving into dictatorship abuses
By The Associated Press February 22, 2013 4:05 PM

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Uruguay's ruling party lawmakers are expressing dismay over their Supreme Court's decision to end a wave of new human rights trials for abuses committed during the country's 1973-1985 dictatorship.

The justices ruled unconstitutional a law that eliminated statutes of limitations for crimes committed by the state during the dictatorship, saying amnesties that applied to both military authorities and leftist guerrilla fighters still hold.

President Jose Mujica's power base in the ruling Broad Front coalition issued a statement accusing the court's majority of maintaining impunity for state terror. Several other lawmakers vowed to challenge the ruling to the Inter-American Human Rights Court. And many called for a mass protest Monday in the capital's Freedom Plaza.

http://www.canada.com/news/Uruguay+Supreme+Court+rules+human+rights+trials+delving+into/8003774/story.html

(Short article, no more at link.)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Hundreds protest ruling by Uruguay's Supreme Court on amnesty law

Hundreds protest ruling by Uruguay's Supreme Court on amnesty law
By The Associated Press February 25, 2013 11:03 PM

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in front of Uruguay's Supreme Court to protest its ruling that a law allowing fresh investigations of dictatorship-era human rights abuses violates the constitution.

The march has the backing of Uruguay's governing coalition and an association representing families of the disappeared.

Uruguay's Congress in 2011 passed legislation that made new human rights trials possible despite a 1986 amnesty law.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the 2011 legislation was unconstitutional, effectively re-establishing the amnesty and angering the centre-left government which has sought to prosecute scores of officials from the 1973-1985 dictatorship, when the army fought Tupamaro guerrillas.

More:
http://www.canada.com/news/Hundreds+protest+ruling+Uruguays+Supreme+Court+amnesty/8015048/story.html