Italy targets former Uruguayan naval officer over role in alleged torture
Italy targets former Uruguayan naval officer over role in alleged torture
Jorge Néstor Fernández Troccoli denies any wrongdoing after accusations relating to South American's dirty wars
John Hooper in Rome
The Guardian, Sunday 14 September 2014 14.50 EDT
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Former Uruguayan military officers, including Gilberto Vazquez (seen here in 2006), have
faced investigators over alleged abuses under Uruguay's 1970s rule.
Photograph: Alejandro Arigon/AP [/font]
Italian prosecutors are poised to seek charges of murder and kidnapping against a former Uruguayan naval intelligence officer accused of participating in South America's dirty wars.
Jorge Néstor Fernández Troccoli has denied any wrongdoing. But in a 24-page document, he was said to have acknowledged that, in the 1970s when Uruguay's civil-military government was cracking down on suspected leftwing insurgents and sympathisers, torture was a "normal procedure" in his unit. He insisted, however, that it did not go beyond "keeping prisoners for several hours on their feet without eating or drinking".
In what La Stampa reported was his only statement to investigators, he was quoted as saying: "I declare myself innocent. I do not accept the accusations."
Troccoli's lawyer likened his client to Christ on the cross, adding: "He was just a young lieutenant. He reported to his superiors." Police and prosecutors in Rome have been investigating Troccoli for more than seven years as part of an inquiry rooted in Italy's nationality laws. Since these put more emphasis on descent than place of birth, many people of Italian origin have – or, like Troccoli, can obtain – an Italian passport. But, for the same reason, some victims of repression in Latin America are considered Italians, and their fate a matter for Italian courts.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/14/uruguayan-naval-officer-alleged-torture-italy
