[JURIST] Argentine President Nestor Kirchner [official profile, in Spanish] Friday authorized officials to reveal state secrets concerning human rights violations that occurred during the infamous "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] crackdown on dissidents between 1976 and 1983 that resulted in an official "missing" count of 13,000 people. A previous ban on past and present military, police, and other government officials had served as a pretext for officials to not testify before courts.

Government campaigns to prosecute human rights violations during the "Dirty War" have gained momentum following the overturning of amnesty laws [JURIST report] by the Argentine Supreme Court in 2005. Just last week a federal judge issued a second international arrest warrant [JURIST report] for the arrest and extradition from Spain of former Argentine President Isabel Peron [Wikipedia profile], wanted for questioning in connection with her government's role in the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A) [MIPT backgrounder], a government-supported death squad, and the 1976 disappearance of political opponent Hector Aldo Fagetti Gallego. AP has more.