Tuesday 13 January 2009

Argentina: Case of Dagmar Hagelin

More than 30 former military personnel, including Alfredo Astiz and "Tigre" Acosta, will have to testify in the trial regarding the disappearance and murder of Dagmar Hagelin. 17 year old Hagelin (yes, that's right; she was a minor) was shot and wounded on 27 January 1977 by a man identified by witnesses as Astiz. She was taken to the ESMA and survivors reported her presence there. She was later killed.

The case of Hagelin is a prominent one because Dagmar had dual Argentine and Swedish citizenship; this meant that there was another government to protest her case, which it did, at a time when in Argentina, amnesty laws meant that most incidences of disappearance could not be prosecuted. She was also a young person who had committed no crime; in fact, her abduction was apparently a mistake, a case of mistaken identity (not that it makes it any better if the person you torture was involved in left-wing politics...).

Mas de 30 represores deberan declarar por la desaparicion de Dagmar Ingrid Hagelin (Pagina/12)

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