Alfredo Astiz

Alfredo Ignacio Astiz (born 8 November 1951) is a convicted war criminal and former Argentine military commander, intelligence officer, and naval Commando who served in the Argentine Navy during the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla during the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976–1983).

He was known as El Ángel Rubio de la Muerte (the "Blond Angel of Death"), and had a reputation as a torturer.

He was a member of GT 3.3.2 (Task Group 3.3.2) based in the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA) in Buenos Aires during the Dirty War of 1976–1983.

The school was adapted as a secret detention and torture center for political prisoners.

As many as 5,000 political prisoners were interrogated, tortured and murdered in the ESMA during those years.

Astiz was believed to have kidnapped and tortured hundreds of people during 1976 and 1977.

Among these were several nationals of other countries, whose cases received international attention as their governments tried to find them and to prosecute suspects.

In 1976 and 1977, Astiz' team kidnapped and "disappeared" three Italian nationals: Angela Maria Aieta in 1976, and Giovanni Pegoraro and his pregnant daughter Susana Pegoraro in 1977.

Susana was believed to have given birth in prison before her death, and it was suspected her child was given illegally for adoption by a military family.

Astiz, a specialist in the infiltration of human rights organizations, was implicated in the December 1977 kidnapping of twelve human rights activists, including Azucena Villaflor and two other founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and two French nationals, Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon, who were Catholic nuns.

None of the twelve was seen alive again outside detention and all were believed killed, rumored to be among the bodies washed up on beaches south of Buenos Aires in late 1977.

On 27 January 1977 Dagmar Hagelin, a 17-year-old girl holding Swedish citizenship through her father Ragnar Hagelin, was shot and wounded by Astiz while attempting to escape capture.

From the early 1980s, Ragnar Hagelin battled tirelessly to bring Astiz to justice.

His wife and Dagmar's mother was an Argentine citizen named Buccicardi.

Dagmar Hagelin was never found.

At the beginning of the 1982 Falklands War, Astiz surrendered with his team to British forces.

Sweden and France wanted to question him about "disappearances" of their nationals at his hands but, considering issues of the Geneva Conventions, the United Kingdom had him questioned by a British policeman.

Astiz refused to answer any questions.

The UK did not think it had grounds to hold or prosecute him, as he was suspected for crimes committed in Argentina that were not then defined as against international law, and repatriated him.

GT3.3.2 was involved in some of the 8,961 deaths and other crimes documented by a national commission after the restoration of democratic government in Argentina in 1983.

GT332 was involved in some of the 8,961 deaths and other crimes documented by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP) after the restoration of democratic government in Argentina in 1983.

During the Dirty War, Astiz specialized as an intelligence officer with GT 3.3.2 in infiltrating human rights groups in Argentina, particularly those active in Buenos Aires.

He used the false name of "Gustavo Niño."

He stayed with a group long enough to identify key members and then organized their abductions by his military forces.

Prisoners were taken to the secret detention camp at ESMA and interrogated under torture for information about other members and activities.

Most detainees were murdered by the military or death squads.

In 1986 and 1987, Argentina passed the Pardon Laws, providing a kind of amnesty to military and security officers for crimes committed during the Dirty War.

In 1990, a French court convicted Astiz in absentia for the kidnapping of Duquet and Domon, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

He was discharged from the military in 1998 after defending his actions in a press interview.

In 2000 the Argentine government paid compensation to Ragnar Hagelin and his wife for their loss.

It was reported at the time that Astiz mistook Dagmar Hagelin for a Montonero activist to whom she bore some physical resemblance, and who was a mutual acquaintance of fellow-activist Norma Susana Burgos.

Witnesses testified to having seen Hagelin later at the ESMA secret detention and torture center, and alleged that Astiz was in charge of her interrogation.

She was never again seen alive.

After the Argentine Supreme Court's 2005 ruling that the Pardon Laws (Ley de Obediencia Debida and Ley de Punto Final) were unconstitutional, the government re-opened prosecution of war crimes cases.

That year Astiz was detained on charges of kidnapping and torture.

A mass grave with several unidentified bodies was found in July 2005 in a cemetery about 400 kilometers south of Buenos Aires; forensic DNA testing identified Duquet, Villaflor, and two other founding Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

The prosecution of charges against Astiz included murder.

Together with numerous other defendants associated with ESMA, Astiz was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Argentina for crimes against humanity on 26 October 2011.

Under Lieutenant Commander Jorge Eduardo Acosta, the GT 3.3.2 (Task Force 3.3.2) was based in the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA) in Buenos Aires during the Dirty War.

About 5,000 political prisoners were interrogated, tortured, and murdered in the ESMA, or elsewhere by its personnel, during those years.