BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? A court in Argentina has sentenced 12 former military and police officials to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the country's 1976-1983 dictatorship.
The men were convicted of kidnapping, torturing and killing leftist dissidents at a torture center called the Navy Mechanics School.
Among those sentenced was Alfredo Astiz, a 59-year-old former navy spy nicknamed "the Angel of Death." Astiz is accused of participating in the disappearance, torture and murder of two French nuns, a journalist and three founders of a human rights group that he infiltrated while spying for the dictatorship.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? An Argentine court was poised to deliver verdicts Wednesday in the case of 18 former military and police officials who have been on trial for alleged crimes against humanity during the country's 1976-83 military dictatorship.
In neighboring Uruguay, lawmakers planned to vote Wednesday to revoke an amnesty law that protected scores of officials in that country's 1973-1985 dictatorship from human rights prosecutions.
The two countries are among several Latin American nations still struggling to come to terms with Cold War dictatorships in which regimes routinely tortured, killed or "disappeared" suspected opponents. Most of those dictatorships ended nearly three decades ago.
The most notorious defendant in the Argentine case is Alfredo Astiz, a 59-year-old former navy spy nicknamed "the Angel of Death." Astiz is accused of participating in the disappearance, torture and murder of two French nuns, a journalist and three founders of a human rights group that he infiltrated while spying for the dictatorship.
The crimes allegedly took place inside the Navy Mechanics School, one of the military junta's principal centers for detention and torture used to crush the threat of armed revolution. About 5,000 detainees passed through the Navy Mechanics School. Fewer than half survived.
The leafy former military campus, now home to a museum dedicated to preserving evidence of crimes against humanity, also housed a maternity ward where pregnant detainees were held until they gave birth and then were made to "disappear." A separate trial alleging that systematic baby thefts were part of the junta's anti-subversion strategy is under way in another courtroom.
Survivors and relatives of victims from the nation's "dirty war" against leftist guerrillas and political opponents eagerly awaited Wednesday's verdict, calling it a "historic day." Human rights organizations planned to gather in front of the courthouse.
Astiz has accused President Cristina Fernandez of promoting unjust and illegitimate prosecutions for her own political gain. Her late husband and predecessor, President Nestor Kirchner, encouraged the trials after Argentina's Congress and Supreme Court removed amnesties that had protected junta veterans.
"This government doesn't hesitate in its revenge against we people who combated terrorism," Astiz said. "It seeks revenge through martyrdom and death in prison."
In the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo on Wednesday, members of the lower house of Congress, or Chamber of Deputies, were debating a measure to annul an amnesty protecting officials of the dictatorship from being prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
Backed by the governing Broad Front coalition, the measure was approved Tuesday by the country's Senate by a close vote of 16-15. The Chamber of Deputies was also expected to pass the measure following a debate that began in the afternoon and was expected to last into the night.
The Inter-American Human Rights court has demanded that Uruguay lift impediments to prosecuting dictatorship-era crimes, but the proposal has divided the politically moderate country, where memories of the 1973-1985 military government remain fresh.
Congressional allies of President Jose Mujica tried and failed to revoke the amnesty law in May.
The opposition has said the measure violates the constitution and notes that the amnesty was approved by Uruguayans in two national referendums, first in 1989 and then in 2009.
Nationalist Sen. Jorge Saravia called Tuesday's senate vote "a coup d'etat" that ignores the decision of citizens in the two plebiscites.
Uruguay's Congress approved the military amnesty in 1986, after leftist guerrillas who had fought the government received amnesties.
Members of Uruguay's armed forces have threatened to seek prosecution of former Tupamaro guerrillas if legislators strike down the military amnesty.
In Chile this week, forensic investigators informed the family of a man who disappeared nearly 40 years ago during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet that they had identified his remains. Georges Klein was the doctor of Marxist President Salvador Allende, who was toppled by Pinochet in a bloody coup on Sept. 11, 1973.
Klein was one of four Frenchmen who disappeared after Pinochet came to power.
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Associated Press writer Michael Warren in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.
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