Rev. Christian Von Wernich praying for a miracle
Rev. Christian Von Wernich is accused of complicity with the torture and murder of scores of fellow Argentines during a military dictatorship of the 1970s. Argentine president said the priest had “dishonored” the Church.
By Martin Barillas See all articles by this author
A priest and former chaplain of Argentina’s police forces was accused in court on July 5 of murders and torture committed during that country’s right-wing military dictatorship (1976-1983). Christian Von Wernich is accused of participation in seven homicides, 31 cases of torture and 42 abductions at five different detention centers in the Buenos Aires area. Appearing at the Federal Oral Tribunal in the coastal city of La Plata, some 45 miles from the nation’s capital, the priest appears to be the first such cleric in Latin America to be tried for human rights violations, according to journalist Hernán Brienza – author of the book “Maldito eres tú (You’re damned): the Von Wernich case, the Church and illegal repression”.
Argentine president Nestor Kirchner said in a statement in La Plata that this was an historic moment for Argentina as a priest who had dishonored the Church, afflicted the poor and violated human rights is being brought to justice. Von Wernich appeared in court as a graying older man, wearing a bulletproof vest over his clerical shirt and Roman collar. The prosecutor in the case accused Von Wernich of “primary complicity” in torture and murders, having had direct contact with those detained in the Argentine dictatorship’s many detention centers. In the city of Buenos Aires and the surrounding province of Buenos Aires, Von Wernich is accused of serving during the time when the feared General Ramon Camps had control of police and military facilities – such as the infamous Naval College – where scores of victims, including pregnant women, were detained, tortured, and killed at the hands of security forces.
In relation to the Von Wernich case, journalist and author Horacio Verbitsky – a frequent critic of the Catholic Church – told AFP that the paradox of the Church in Latin America during the 1970s was that even while many of the clergy supported right-wing dictatorships, there were many murders of priests and bishops and laity by the right-wing. For example, the current cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, has been accused by human rights investigators of “sinister complicity” in right-wing repression of the 1970s and early 1980s. The political and military leaders of that regime, such as General Leopoldo Galtieri, have been brought to book; until now, clerics had been apparently immune.
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