Convicted killers Elisabeth Käsemann

Antonio Carlos Ribeiro

The sentencing of two former officers and five prison guards argentinian put an end to fight of family Käsemann for justice for the death of sociologist Elisabeth Käsemann, published the journalist Elvira Treffinger, in column Society (Gesellschaft), the German Evangelical journal Zeitzeichen. The former general Hector Gamen, 84, and the old Colonel Hugo Pascarelli, 81, were found guilty of 156 crimes.

In the field of torture El Vesubio, in Buenos Aires, were arrested and tortured about 2500 people between 1976 and 1978, especially opponents of the military dictatorship. Among the crimes, even the murder of Elisabeth Käsemann are disappearing of French citizens Francoise Dauthier and Jean-Marcel Soler, writer Haroldo Conti, musical author Hector Oesterheld and director Raymundo Gleyzer. The two former military officers were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the guards sentenced to between 18 and 22 years in prison.

Dr Eva Teufel, 67, daughter of the theologian Ernst Käsemann, University of Tübingen, who died 1998, regrets that 34 years passed until the responsible for the death of his sister have been convicted. "After more than 30 years, human rights and jurisdiction are still in progress," said about those who murdered his sister, to the Evangelical Press Service (Evangelisches Pressdienst).

Teufel, four years older than Elisabeth, remembers that she was operating in Argentina during the military dictatorship (1976-1983). A few years ago she did not believe that this would be possible, did not expect what would happen a verdict on his sister, said. Unlike most victims of the Argentine dictatorship, his body was claimed by the theologian Jürgen Moltmann, colleague of her father in the university, being found in the field of torture, transfered and autopsied in Tübingen.

The conviction of the killers answers his quest for justice. "My sister was murdered and shot," with shots to the back and neck at close range, had affirmed the award of the German forensic pathology. "It was clearly a murder," she said, "no doubt." However, even after the verdict, the relatives do not feel any satisfaction and say they can not figure out what to do to end the suffering. Do not forget the decision-making, with courage, and the ensuing international fight for truth and justice.

She thanked, on behalf of the family, to members of human rights organizations, activists, lawyers, religious organizations and individuals, and the "Coalition Against Impunity" that argued for decades the process of clarification of the crime, in Germany and Argentina. Thus, the murder of Elisabeth Käsemann was rescued from oblivion by the "traces of life" brought to light against "the lie of the disappearance."