Former Ford Argentina executives sentenced in torture cases
173 views · Published 16 December 2018 · 2:57 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(11 Dec 2018) A Argentine court on Tuesday sentenced two former Ford Motor Company executives to prison for helping agents of the country's former dictatorship round up 24 Argentine union workers who were tortured and held in military jails. The courtroom was crowded with a number of the victims and family members, some of whom broke into tears and hugged after the sentencing for crimes against humanity was announced. The court said that factory manufacturing director Pedro Muller and security manager Hector Francisco Sibilla targeted workers and gave information to security agents for their kidnapping and torture after the 1976 military coup. One of the victims, Pedro Troiani, said the executives who facilitated the kidnapping and torture must now take responsibility. Muller was sentenced to 10 years and Sibilla to 12 years. Santiago Omar Riveros, a former chief of the army's fourth battalion, was sentenced to 15 years. He is already serving time in another case for human rights abuses. Sibilla and Riveros are Argentines and Muller was described in the initial indictment as a Czech national. The men, all in their 80s or 90s, deny wrongdoing and can appeal. The trial that began last year is part of a series of prosecutions focused on corporate support for the brutal military dictatorship of 1976-1983, when about 30,000 people were killed or disappeared, according to human rights groups. About 5,000 workers were employed at the time by the Ford factory in suburban General Pacheco, producing the Falcon - a car that became a symbol of state terror because it was often used by military and police squads to carry off alleged subversives and move them between secret detention centres. Ford said in a statement that it was aware of the sentence against the men but would not comment since the verdict is not final and can be appealed. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/af360bd15707cfe4551c8cf53c6ef7db
