Genocide of the Ache People of Paraguay Will Be Tried in Argentina

[theHandpuppet]

Indian Country
Genocide of the Ache People of Paraguay Will Be Tried in Argentina
Rick Kearns
8/18/14

The Ache people of Paraguay have filed a criminal complaint of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against their people by various citizens, military and officials in the Paraguayan government for their role in the displacement, murder, enslavement and rape of the Ache from the 1950s through the 70s.

Based on evidence provided by survivors as well as anthropologists, human rights advocate, attorneys, journalists, priests and others, the story of what happened to the Ache people of Paraguay was presented to the Fifth Federal Court in Argentina in April after Paraguayan officials refused to prosecute the case.

According to Aitor Martínez, a Spanish attorney who is on the legal team that had filed the charges on behalf of the National Ache Foundation, they are awaiting trial dates from Argentine Judge Norberto Oyarbide. Judge Oyarbide agreed to hear the case based on the legal principle of 'universal jurisdiction' that allows for prosecution of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in a foreign court if the judicial system of the home country did not prosecute the case.

In a recent interview, Martínez said that then Paraguayan President Alfredo Stroessner was informed of the atrocities by Paraguayan activists, officials from the United Nations and others but President Stroessner did not take any steps to stop the violence; some testimony also alleges that Stroessner, a United States ally at the time, spent time with pre-adolescent indigenous girls who had been forced into prostitution....

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/08/18/genocide-ache-people-paraguay-will-be-tried-argentina-156444