The Supreme Court's Ruling
Argentina's Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the acquittal of César Milani, the former army chief during Cristina Kirchner's presidency, in the case of the forced disappearance of conscript Alberto Agapito Ledo in June 1976. The court granted a appeal from the prosecution and ordered a new ruling. The decision was signed by justices Horacio Rosatti and Ricardo Lorenzetti, along with substitute justice Juan Ignacio Pérez Curci. Substitute justice Luis Renato Rabbi Baldi Cabanillas filed a concurring vote, while court vice president Carlos Rosenkrantz dissented, arguing the prosecution's appeal was inadmissible.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6]
The majority adopted the opinion of the Prosecutor General's Office, which argued that the lower courts had failed to exhaustively evaluate proven circumstances. Specifically, the prosecution held that the oral tribunal in Tucumán and the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation ignored that Milani himself had publicly acknowledged that the signature on the desertion document was his. The case will now return to the Cassation Chamber, which with a different composition must reassess the acquittal.[S1][S2][S4][S5][S6]
The Ledo Case: Facts and Accusations
Alberto Agapito Ledo was a 20-year-old history student at the National University of Tucumán who had worked with La Rioja bishop Enrique Angelelli and was a member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party (PRT). He was performing compulsory military service in the 141st Engineers Construction Battalion based in La Rioja. In April 1976, a fraction of the battalion, including both Ledo and Milani, was deployed to Tucumán under Operation Independence. On the night of 17 June 1976, Ledo was taken from his bed by Captain Esteban Sanguinetti and never returned. He was last seen in December of that year, detained, at the Miguel Azcuénaga Arsenal in San Miguel de Tucumán.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
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Five days after the disappearance, on 22 June 1976, Milani, then a second lieutenant, drafted a military report classifying Ledo as a deserter. The document stated that the soldier had fled with his campaign equipment. However, the trial established that Ledo left behind his military gear and his glasses, which he wore permanently. The prosecution argued that this false report served to cover up the illegal detention and subsequent murder of Ledo. Sanguinetti was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison as a secondary participant in illegal deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide, crimes against humanity. Milani was acquitted in 2019 by the Federal Oral Tribunal of Tucumán, a decision later confirmed by the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation in 2021.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6]
Legal Arguments and Dissent
The Supreme Court found that the acquittal lacked valid reasoning and contained logical gaps. It criticized the lower courts for relying solely on a defense technical report—prepared by a professional who was not a handwriting expert and produced without control by the parties—to create doubt about Milani's signature, after the trial court had denied the prosecution's request for an official handwriting analysis. The court also noted that Milani had publicly admitted in journalistic interviews and before the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) that he had signed the desertion document, and during the oral trial he conceded that he could have done it. Furthermore, the court rejected the characterization of the document as a mere bureaucratic procedure or neutral conduct, stating that Milani, as the instructing officer, had a legal duty to guarantee the truth of what was recorded.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6]
In his dissent, Justice Carlos Rosenkrantz argued that the prosecution's appeal should be dismissed for lack of autonomous grounds. He maintained that the acquittal was based on a reasonable assessment of the evidence and that there were no direct or indirect elements proving that Milani knew the soldier had been the victim of a crime. The majority's decision does not imply a conviction; it merely sets aside the acquittal and orders the Cassation Chamber to re-examine the case.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6]
