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Argentina Baby Snatch Witness Dies in Trial

Possibly killed before could talk about Dirty War disappearances

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 27, 2008 9:46 AM CST

(Newser) – Days before he was to testify about the Dirty War disappearance of twins born to a political prisoner, a former Argentine army officer has been found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, the BBC reports. Police don't know if Paul Navone committed suicide but human rights groups think he might have been murdered to stop him from talking.

"It's highly likely that there are people who could have felt threatened by Navone's testimony," said a lawyer. Hundreds of babies were stolen from their dissident parents and given to childless couples sympathetic to Argentina's military junta from 1976 to 1983, when an estimated 30,000 leftists disappeared. Another army officer died of cyanide poisoning in December days before the verdict in his torture case.

Estela de Carlotto, president of the human rights association Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, stands in front of a monument to the 30,000 people who disappeared under the brutal military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
Estela de Carlotto, president of the human rights association Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, stands in front of a monument to the 30,000 people who disappeared under the brutal military junta that ruled Argentina...   (Getty Images)
Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo cheer to the crowd Monday, April 30, 2007, during an act to mark the 30th anniversary of their first protest to demand the return of their disappeared relatives during the 1976-1983 military junta government . Nearly 13,000 people are officially listed as dead or...
Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo cheer to the crowd Monday, April 30, 2007, during an act to mark the 30th anniversary of their first protest to demand the return of their disappeared relatives during...   (Associated Press)
A woman carries flowers to the Monument to the Victims of State Terrorism at Parque Memoria (Memorial Park), on the banks of the River Plate in Costanera Norte, Buenos Aires on Nov. 7, 2007. The monument is the first to honor the people detained, disappeared, or murdered from 1969 to...
A woman carries flowers to the Monument to the Victims of State Terrorism at Parque Memoria (Memorial Park), on the banks of the River Plate in Costanera Norte, Buenos Aires on Nov. 7, 2007. The monument...   (ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP/Getty Images)
Members and supporters of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women searching for their missing grandchildren, march in Buenos Aires.
Members and supporters of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women searching for their missing grandchildren, march in Buenos Aires.   (KRT Photos)
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