[JURIST] Police in Argentina [JURIST news archive] have arrested three former officials suspected of human rights violations during the country's "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity.com backgrounder], the former military junta's campaign against its domestic opponents – at least 13,000 of whom "disappeared" from 1976 to 1983. Authorities arrested Raul Antonio Guglielminetti, a former intelligence agent, late Wednesday in connection with a series of disappearances at a Buenos Aires torture center. Police also arrested retired navy Vice Commodore Nestor Horacio Guillamondequi and former army Col. Ruben Victor Visuara. The three arrests came after federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issued 16 arrest warrants for suspects who allegedly took part in a systematic campaign of abductions, torture and executions during the Dirty War.

Last year, the Argentine Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] threw out the country's amnesty laws [JURIST report] that granted immunity to former government officials and on Saturday, an Argentine court convicted the first Dirty War suspect [JURIST report] in over 20 years. Former police investigator Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz [Project Disappeared profile] went on trial in June on murder, kidnapping and torture charges, making him the first former government official to stand trial [JURIST report] since the amnesty laws were overturned. Etchecolatz's trial is still ongoing. The amnesty laws, known as the Full Stop Law [text] and the Law of Due Obedience [text], were passed in the 1980s by the democratically elected government that replaced the junta and were meant to prevent rebellions among the military. AP has more. La Nacion has local coverage, in Spanish.