Jorge Eduardo Acosta, left, a former navy captain, Alfredo Astiz, second left, a former navy spy nicknamed "the Angel of Death," and other former member of the Argentine armed forces sit in a courtroom in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. Acosta and Astiz were sentenced to life in prison. The trial for dictatorship-era human rights violations at Naval Mechanics School known as "ESMA," a notorious clandestine detention and torture center, is the largest in the country's history with 54 accused. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
The Associated Press
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - A former Argentine navy captain known as the "Angel of Death" was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for dictatorship-era human rights violations committed at a notorious clandestine detention and torture center.
Alfredo Astiz sat motionless as a judge read the charges against him that included kidnapping, torture, homicide and stealing minors. Sentences were also read against 53 other people in the largest trial of its kind in Argentina's history.
Astiz's nickname came from his cherubic looks and for his work delivering dissidents to the military junta as an undercover agent. He previously was convicted of kidnapping, torturing and murdering two French nuns and a journalist and was already serving a life sentence.
Hundreds of people outside the courtroom celebrated as sentences were read. Some held a large poster with photos of the 54 defendants with a letter "P'' for "perpetua," referring to life sentences, scribbled over the men's faces. Others held banners about the disappeared that read: "Tell us where they are."
The trial was the largest and involved crimes against humanity committed against 789 people at the Naval Mechanics School - the era's biggest clandestine torture center. An estimated 5,000 prisoners were held there. Some were drugged and later thrown alive from airplanes into the River Plate or to the sea in "death flights."
"In Argentina's history, the death flights will always be regarded as an incomparable monstrosity," said human rights activist Eduardo Jozami. "It's key that this vision held by most Argentines has been ratified with this sentence."
Human rights groups estimate about 30,000 people were killed or disappeared during Argentina's brutal 1976-1983 dictatorship.
"The reparation of victims and of society is only possible if the state complies with its obligations to investigate, sanction and reconstruct history," said the Buenos Aires-based Center for Legal and Social Studies, which was part of the legal team representing plaintiffs in the case.
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Associated Press writer Debora Rey and AP video journalist Paul Byrne contributed to this report.
Mothers of "Plaza de Mayo" member Tati Almeida holds a sign that reads in Spanish "They are 30,000," referring to those killed by the Argentine dictatorship, as she listens to the verdicts for the accused in a human rights trial, shown on a screen outside the court in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. The trial for dictatorship-era human rights violations at the Naval Mechanics School known as "ESMA," a notorious clandestine detention and torture center, is the largest in the country's history with 54 accused. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
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Photos of people killed during Argentina's dictatorship cover a fence outside the court where a human rights trial takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. The trial for dictatorship-era human rights violations at the Naval Mechanics School known as "ESMA," a notorious clandestine detention and torture center, is the largest in the country's history with 54 accused. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
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A child plays with a balloon by a fence covered with photos of people killed during Argentina's dictatorship, outside the court where a human rights trial takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. The trial for dictatorship-era human rights violations at the Naval Mechanics School known as "ESMA," a notorious clandestine detention and torture center, is the largest in the country's history with 54 accused. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
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Julio Poch, a former air force pilot who has dual Dutch-Argentine nationality, sits in the courtroom as one of the accused while verdicts are read in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. The trial for dictatorship-era human rights violations at the Naval Mechanics School known as "ESMA," a notorious clandestine detention and torture center, is the largest in the country's history with 54 accused. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
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FILE - In this Oct. 26, 2011 file photo, Alfredo Astiz, left, a former navy spy nicknamed "the Angel of Death," waits for a verdict during his trial, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In a separate trial, an Argentine court on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, sentenced Astiz to life imprisonment for the crimes against humanity committed in the main clandestine detention and torture center during the last military dictatorship. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)
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