Accused ‘Dirty War’ Officer Trial Opens
A former Argentine navy officer who once admitted to throwing political opponents from airplanes to their deaths during his country’s “dirty war” two decades ago went on trial Friday, the first person to be tried in Spain for crimes against humanity in another nation.Adolfo Scilingo, 58, who has been on a hunger strike since mid-December to protest his trial, arrived at the National Court in an ambulance and suffered a dizzy spell in a holding cell, forcing the first session to start late, be interrupted and end early. Scilingo, looking weak and pale, spent most of the session wrapped in a dark blanket, grimacing and covering his eyes with clenched fists. When he took the stand, he mumbled unintelligibly as one member of the three-judge panel read the charges against him, which include torture, genocide and terrorism.Full Story