As the final closure of the prison that has been in the heart of the city of Buenos Aires for almost a century approaches, the judiciary has just handed down a historic verdict in one of the most threatening chapters of the Villa Devoto prison.
Almost half a century after the so-called Seventh Pavilion Massacre, the Federal Criminal Court No. 5 in the federal capital ruled Juan Carlos Ruizformer director of the prison, now 93 years old Horacio Martin Galíndez92 and former head of internal security of the prison during the last military dictatorship, for his responsibility in the repression and fire on March 14, 1978 in the penal unit No. 2, where 153 prisoners were tortured and 65 died.
The decision was presented by the court as a case of serious human rights violations and represents a legal milestone that survivors and victims’ families have long sought. As the State Ministry (MPF) reports on its website, the fundamentals will be announced on March 16 next year, when they will already be met. 48 years since the massacre.
The court, composed of judges Nicolás Toselli, Daniel Obligado and Adriana Palliotti, rejected the defense’s proposals aimed at declaring the criminal action extinguished due to the expiration of time, and upheld the classification of the events as crimes against humanity, based on the requirements of Article 7 of the Rome Statute and the context of the state authority in force at the time of the massacre. That’s what they argued The verdict focuses on the defendant’s conduct rather than the victims’ status as “ordinary prisoners.”.
The public charge led by Attorney General Abel Cordoba had, together with prosecutors María Laura Grigera, Viviana Sánchez and Mara López Legaspi, requested prison sentences of 25 years for the two main defendants and 22 years for a third, Gregorio Bernardo Zerda.
In his argument, Córdoba noted that what happened is expressed two dimensions of violence: the dictatorship and the prison; The court followed this line and solidified the thesis that these were crimes against humanity. The indictment detailed the suppression and fire, analyzed responsibilities, and examined the actions of state authorities from 1978 to the present.
The convicted persons were declared functional accomplices in the crime of repeated use of torture in 88 cases and repeated torture followed by killing in 65 cases, with material agreement between them. The sentence requested by the prosecution and the complaint was consistent with the sentence imposed by the court against Ruiz and Galíndez. On the other hand, the third defendant Zerda, 74, was acquitted. The defendant followed the reading of the verdict in connection with the Zoom platform.
The trial began in October 2024; A month later, the court, the parties and witnesses conducted a visual inspection at the Federal Penitentiary Service department, located since 1927 at Bermúdez 2500 in the Villa Devoto neighborhood of Buenos Aires Survivors recognized key sites of events and scenes of repression that preceded the fire.
This tour was integrated into a test that included medical certificates and period documents. As the MPF reports on its website www.fiscales.gob.ar, The inspection provided elements for reconstructing the course of violence in the prison.
The Seventh Pavilion Massacre, as etched into public memory, It wasn’t an isolated incident or an accident.said the prosecution. In the file, the historical context of the military dictatorship and the defendant’s assignment to the current punishment plan became pillars of the legal qualification. At the same time, survivors and families maintained the demand for truth and justice for years.
As LA NACION published in a detailed chronicle in 2018, the case was investigated as a crime against humanity, based on decisions adopted by the Federal Chamber of Buenos Aires after the intervention of the Federal Court No. 2 of the Comodoro Py Courts in 2002.
The same text reconstructed the voice of Hugo Cardozoone of the survivors who championed the cause and sought out other colleagues to add testimony. Cardozo said that The search that morning in March 1978 was exceptional because of the deployment of agents and the intensity of the beating and gunfire.. He reported that the prisoners tried to obscure the guards’ view by nailing mattresses to the bars and that in this context a barrel of fuel started the fire inside the pavilion.
The prosecution emphasized that the analysis of the events in Devoto was supported by the evidence collected and the understanding of it The penal practices of the time were attuned to the broader repressive system. The court considered that this conspiracy made it possible to recognize the massacre as part of a series of serious human rights violations. For this reason, the statute of limitations was rejected and the typical non-statute of crimes against humanity was reaffirmed.
Procedurally speaking, the court announced that the basis for the judgment would be published on March 16 next year. Before the verdict was read, Ruiz’s defense tried to question the principle of consistency of the prosecutor’s allegations, but the court rejected the proposal. Zerda was the only defendant to speak his final words; He referred to his personal history and claimed to have “followed orders.”
According to Cardozo’s story, a search began before 8 a.m. with about 80 agents – the usual number is about 30 – entering the cell block with sticks, chains and irons. Some prisoners were forced to their knees and beaten on the head.. As the rest of the pavilion began to defend them, the guards retreated to and from the “catwalk” (the hallway leading to the entrances). They started firing machine guns and tear gas..
“At first they were short bursts,” Cardozo said, “but then Fire at will. They chased us like ducks. To defend ourselves, we threw batteries, radios, potatoes and whatever we had on hand. Until someone decided to block their view of the pavilion by placing the mattresses on the bars. We did so and at one point I saw one of the guards kick a can of kerosene towards the mattresses. Then all hell broke loose“.
Cardozo said he still remembers the vision of one of the mattresses burning and the flame falling to the floor. Then, he said, there was an explosion and the fire reached the ceiling.
“The thick smoke ate away at your lungs, the heat blistered your flesh, we hung on the bars and tried to breathe through the windows. Amidst the screams, I heard that they continued to fire with long guns. I thought I was going to die, but God enlightened me. I had once read a story in a magazine about someone who had saved himself from a fire by wrapping himself in wet clothes and lying face down on the ground. I wet a towel in the trash can where we had thrown the used grass, lay on the ground, and surrendered.“, he explained.
Cardozo fainted and woke up three hours later. I heard screams and insults. He saw the bars blue with fire. He walked among bodies, among other prisoners who jumped up in pain as their skin fell off in pieces. He made it to the bathroom as best he could and threw himself desperately onto a faucet. They had turned off the water.
“Many were hiding under the beds, but the fire turned the irons into grills. I still can’t get the smell of those charred bodies out of my head, it was human flesh fried. It was all so terrible that I thought: Why wasn’t I lucky enough to die?But Hugo Cardoso survived and lived long enough to seek and receive justice.
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