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TheLaw of Due Obedience (Spanish:Ley de obediencia debida) was a law passed by theNational Congress ofArgentina after the end of the military dictatorship of theProceso de Reorganización Nacional (which started with acoup d'état in 1976 and ended in 1983). Formally, this law is referred to by number (Law No. 23,521), like all others in Argentine legislation, butLey de Obediencia Debida is the only designation in common use, even in official speeches.[1]
The law was passed on 4 June 1987. It dictates that it must be assumed, without admitting proof to the contrary, that all officers and their subordinates including common personnel of the Armed Forces, the Police, the Penitentiary Service and other security agencies cannot be legally punished for crimes committed during the dictatorship as they were acting out ofdue obedience, that is, obeying orders from their superiors (in this case, the heads of the military government, who had already been tried in theTrial of the Juntas).[citation needed]
This law was passed one year after thefull stop law in order to contain the discontent of the Armed Forces. It effectively exempted military personnel under the rank ofcolonel from responsibility for their crimes, which includedforced disappearances, illegal detentions,torture andmurders. Its text is rather short, with only 7 articles, the second of which contains an exception (the law does not apply to cases of rape, disappearance or identity forgery of minors, or extensive appropriation of real estate).[citation needed]
TheLey de Obediencia Debida and theLey de Punto Final were repealed by theNational Congress in August 2003, which allowed for the re-opening of cases that involvedcrimes against humanity. The first of such cases, which involved the formerBuenos Aires Provincial Police second-in-commandMiguel Etchecolatz, ended in September 2006 and laid down jurisprudence by acknowledging that the dictatorship'sstate terrorism was a form ofgenocide.[2][3]
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