Madrid
A Spanish court this week convicted an Argentine man of crimes against humanity committed in Argentina—the first conviction under Spain’s “universal jurisdiction” laws. Adolfo Scilingo, 58, is expected to serve the maximum 30 years allowed of his 640-year sentence for kidnapping, torture, and murder—including throwing leftist activists from airplanes. From 1976 to 1983, the military regime killed up to 30,000 leftists, but most of the perpetrators got off in a general amnesty. Scilingo voluntarily went to Spain to testify about abuses he had seen, only to find that Spain’s new laws asserted a right to prosecute foreigners for crimes committed abroad.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive orderspeed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
'Haiti's crisis is a complex problem that defies solution'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israelspeed read Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier, was the final living US citizen held by the militant group
