The retired military officers must serve the sentence effectively, in a common prison, according to the court ruling. | Photo: PL

Buenos Aires, July 5 (RHC)-- The Secretariat of Human Rights of Argentina announced on Monday that the Judiciary of the nation sentenced to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment four former military personnel of the Campo de Mayo military airfield, for the "death flights" that were carried out during the civil-military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.

The Federal Oral Court No. 2 of San Martin decided to apply the measure to members of the Aviation Battalion 601 as the former head of Military Institutes of Campo de Mayo, Santiago Omar Riveros; the former commander, Luis del Valle Arce; his deputy, Delsis Angel Malacalza; and the former operations officer, Eduardo Maria Lance.

Likewise, the entity pointed out that next September 12th, the arguments of the ruling will be known, and also pointed out that the accused made the contributions to the sections of the plan, which were fundamental for the execution of the criminal act.

The judicial authorities investigated crimes related to the kidnapping of four people, whose bodies were found on the coast of Buenos Aires.

At least four victims were kidnapped between 1976 and 1977, transferred to the clandestine detention center El Campito, in Campo de Mayo, to be later tortured and finally transferred in planes over the Río de la Plata where they were thrown into the river.

Previously, in 2017, Argentina's judiciary handed down convictions for throwing ESMA clandestine center prisoners alive into the sea, during an oral trial that took five years, and the testimony of nearly 800 witnesses.  A total of 29 defendants were convicted on crimes against humanity.