THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Imprisonment Ends for a Young Argentine Jew
By MORTON ROSENTHAL
Director, Latin American
Affairs Department
Anti-Defamation League
of Bnai Brith
At 8:10 p.m. on May 27,
1976, a bottle of gasoline
smashed through the plate
glass window of a store on
Avenida Diaz Velez in
Buenos Aires. Moments la-
ter, the perpetrators scat-
tered political leaflets as
they fled the scene. Nearby,
Horatio Oscar Saragovi,
then 17 years of age, was
waiting in the dark, cold
night for the bus that was to
take him to a club meeting
at the Jewish center.
The. bottle, which shat-
tered the display window,
also shattered young
Saragovi's life. It began a
bizarre sequence of events
which started with his ar-
rest on false charges of
committing the crime. A
military court found him
guilty of "alteration of the
public order, incitement to
group violence against the
police force," and -sentenced
him to six years in prison.
Young Saragovi is one of
hundreds of innocent vic-
tims of what the Argentine
military refer to as "the
'dirty war" against subver-
sion. - The Inter-American
Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) was de-
clared that Saragovi is
genuinely innocent of the
charges filed againsthim.
The Saragovi case was de-
scribed at length in the
IACHR "Report on Human
Rights in Argentina," based
on a visit which this agency
of the Organization of
American States made 'to
Argentina in September
1979.
The case is unusual be-
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religious
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important to him, he was
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On July 23, 1980, particularly pained and
Saragovi emerged from perplexed by the fact that
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Saragovi also recalls that
would dog his steps
through life. Reluctantly, he was able to get a Bible
only after months of re-
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cause it demonstrates that
protest from the United
States against human
rights violations in Argen-
tina can, in some instances,
yield positive results.
Saragovi's uncle, Herbert
Braier of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania ; sought the
help of the Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith which,
in turn, recruited the assis-
tance of the U.S. State De-
partment and the U.S. em-
bassy in Buernos Aires.
The • Jewish Community
Relations Committees of
Pittsburgh and Miami
joined with ADL in having
many members of the Se-
nate and the House write
letters to the Argentine
President urging commuta-
tion of Horacio's sentence.
ADL has observed that
Jews, as such, have not
been targeted by security
forces, but once picked
up on subversion or other
charges, they are at seri-
ous disadvantage. If
Jews and non-Jews are
arrested at the same time,
the Jews are less likely to
be released. Jews are
generally subjected to
more severe treatment,
motivated by anti-
Semitism.
The two other men ar-
rested at the time of the .in-
cident were subsequently
released, but Saragovi re-
mained in detention. His in-
terrogators hurled anti-
Semitic epithets at him as
they inquired about Jewish
community activities and
asked if synagogues were
being used to manufacture
bombs.
Three members of the tri-
bunal which, tried him
"made anti-Semitic state-,
ments about Saragovi" ac-
cording to the report of the
IACHR, which also said
that "the records show
clearly that the policeman
lied, as did his witness."
Saragovi was denied the
. • -• N..,, i t
opportunity of having all of
his defense witnesses tes-
A0e.' 4itit-
tify, although the lone
fifre'
eyewitness to the event did
. . . . .
'-.- '‘! 1 ..... -,- ....
testify that he did not rec-
, '04-4!". • 7 - '''''''.
\'‘'i ,,\NA
■■" , - . ,‘ \\ . 0 , : - .. •'..
.,\
ognize Saragovi as having
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been at the scene of the
'
crime.
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After a one-day trial, the
\
.
Warning The Surgeon General. Has Determined.
tribunal imposed a sentence
.\\•\\
of six years. The unsuc-
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cessful appeal, made before
the same tribunal, resulted
in the extension of his sen-
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cause Saragovi is now a
free man. The four-year
nightmare ended on July
22, 1980, when Argentine
President Videla, in an
unprecedented action,
commuted his sentence.
No other individual con-
victed of a political crime
has had his sentence
commuted since the
Argentine military seized
power in March 1976.
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