Police probe death of witness in Argentina human rights trial

[Judi Lynn]

Police probe death of witness in Argentina human rights trial
updated 18 minutes ago

CNN) -- Federal authorities in Argentina are investigating the death of a key witness in a human rights trial that started Tuesday, the official news agency reported.

Jesus Gonzalez, known as "el Flaco" or "the skinny one," was found dead Friday in the central Argentinian city of Cordoba in what initially was characterized as a suicide, said the government-run Telam news agency.

Gonzalez was scheduled to testify in the trial of former army Gen. Luciano Benjamin Menendez and five others accused of human rights violations during Argentina's military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. They are accused of illegal detention and committing torture and aggravated homicide.

Menendez previously had been accused of nearly 800 crimes but had been immune because of a special amnesty law against top officials in the dictatorship. After the immunity laws were lifted in 2006, he was found guilty of kidnapping, torture and murder and sentenced last year to life in prison. He was a top commander in Cordoba during the dictatorship.

Gonzalez was a guard at a secret detention center in Cordoba during that time. Gonzalez was found in the bathroom of his home Friday night with a fatal stab wound to the chest, Telam said.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/20/argentina.witness/index.html