MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - A court in Italy sentenced 24 people to life in prison for their involvement in human rights crimes committed during the “Operation Condor” offensive by South American governments to hunt down dissidents within the region and beyond, the Uruguayan government said Monday. It wasn’t immediately clear what the sentences would mean since all but one of the defendants was tried in absentia. However, Uruguay has imprisoned people convicted earlier in similar cases, although it does not allow life sentences. South American dictators in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay set up Operation Condor in the 1970s as a co-ordinated effort to track down their opponents across borders and eliminate them. An appeals court in Rome ruled Monday against members of the military, police and others who once formed part of the former dictatorships of Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Source: thestar July 08, 2019 22:48 UTC