Christian von Wernich

Christian Federico von Wernich (born 27 May 1938 in Concordia, Entre Ríos Province) is an Argentine Roman Catholic priest and a former chaplain of the Buenos Aires Province Police while it was under the command of General Ramón Camps, during the dictatorial period known as the National Reorganization Process (El proceso) (1976–1983). Wernich worked in Miguel Etchecolatz's Direction of Investigations of the provincial police with the rank of Inspector. He became internationally known in 2006 after being indicted for murder and kidnapping in aid of the military junta; he was convicted at trial in October 2007 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Early life and education Christian Federico von Wernich was born in 1938 into an ethnic German Catholic family. He attended parochial school and seminary. He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1960. Career He became a chaplain of the Buenos Aires Province Police in the 1970s. The force was commanded by General Ramón Camps. This was during the military dictatorship known as National Reorganization Process (El proceso) (1976–1983), when the military and security forces took extreme actions to suppress political dissent in the country. The period became known as the Dirty War, and the government was later held responsible for tens of thousands of forced disappearances, kidnappings, torture, and deaths of political prisoners, in addition to widespread attacks of rural insurgents, which was later assessed as genocide. Going beyond acting as a spiritual adviser to police and suspects, Wernich worked with the rank of Inspector in Miguel Etchecolatz's Direction of Investigations of the provincial police. Two years after the return of democracy in 1983, the government began to prosecute crimes under the dictatorship, in what was known as the Trial of the Juntas in 1985. Wernich was among those accused of participation in the Dirty War, and collaborating in the torture of political prisoners. He declared that he was innocent. Action against those involved in the military dictatorship was discontinued after Congress passed the 1986 Ley de Punto Final, intended to "draw a line" under all that had happened until then.