The Federal Criminal Court (TOF) 2 of Mendoza today sentenced former Army lieutenant Mario Guillermo Ocampo to life sentencein the twelfth trial in this county for crimes It harms humanity committed by the past dictatorship civil army.
After hearing the last words of the sole accused, the Court, composed of Judges Alberto Carelli, Hector Cortez and Paula Marisi, announces the verdict of this trial that began on March 22 and in which the crimes committed in the city of San Rafael were analyzed, to the detriment of 12 victims, committed between March and November of 1976.
TOF 2 from Mendoza applied life to Ocampo, a former VIII Mountain Engineers lieutenant, who followed nearly the entire trial and verdict. Before reading the verdict, the court rejected the request for annulment submitted by the defendant’s defense without costs.
The unanimous verdict stated that “Mario Guillermo Ocampo was sentenced to life in prison, and disqualified for life for being criminally responsible accomplice in the commission of double serious murder for treason and for mediating a premeditated competition of two or more persons to act, at the expense of Jose Guillermo Peron.”
In addition, for “the arbitrary deprivation of liberty aggravated by mediated acts of violence and threats and because it lasted more than a month in 12 events”; for “torture aggravated by the commission of political persecution of the victim for 12 incidents” and “as criminally liable for the crime of unlawful association as a member of the same”.
The former lieutenant came to this trial charged with mediating murder, 12 arbitrary deprivations of liberty and aggravated application of torture, committed between March and November 1976, and as a perpetrator of unlawful associations as a leader or organizer.
The facts discussed at this trial are those experienced by the victims in various secret detention centers (CCD) such as the San Rafael Municipality, Bowen Police Station, Police Infantry Facilities, General Alvear’s Fourteenth Section and the San Rafael County Home.
And the defendant crossed before the court: “I just say to the president of the court and the members of the court that I am innocent of the facts accused of me, and this is what I confirmed in the investigation report that I submitted and the defense pleadings.”
In the discussion room located on the first floor of the court, the relatives of the disappeared were found, who expectedly followed the final stage of this trial. Outside the federal courthouses, on the front steps, they put up photos and posters in memory of the victims. When the decision was announced, there were scenes of emotion and hugs between the relatives of the victims.
Prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez Infante told Télam that “it is important to highlight and celebrate that a new trial is coming to an end; in our province we have many trials and they are important because of different characteristics.”
He added about the sentence, “It seems very relevant to us, as we said in the discussion, that Ocampo was the third in the chain of command within the VIII Engineers company, which is the structure responsible for state repression in the southern province.
Pablo Garciarena, who had intervened as a special prosecutor in previous trials in San Rafael, stated, “The defense raised a technical nullification of our indictment of the crime of unlawful association and the court rejected the annulment and convicted him of the unlawful association with a slight procedural difference, but he was also convicted of this offense.”
The former lieutenant served with VIII Mountain Company between December 1975 and February 1979.
Ocampo, who was a fugitive from justice from 2012 to 2019 due to other crimes debate It harms humanitywas sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 and 2022 along with the other suppressors in the “Counteroffensive II” case, when he served as Chief of the Second Section of Detachment 201 in Campo de Mayo, and the “Ocampo and Backlog” trial that took place in the city of San Rafael.
“Unapologetic tv specialist. Hardcore zombie trailblazer. Infuriatingly humble problem solver.”