Argentine military ruler charged

General Videla is already under house arrest

By Latin America correspondent Clare Marshall

Argentina's former military leader, Jorge Videla, has been formally indicted over his alleged role in Plan Condor, an operation to hunt down and execute political opponents in the 1970s and 80s.

The case has been brought by several families who blamed General Videla for the death of their relatives in the covert operation.

As many as 30,000 may have been killed during the military era

In a 500-page report, a federal judge formally charged General Videla with being part of an illegal organisation to crush political rivals.

Plan Condor was a regional strategy, devised in the 1970s by six Latin American countries, aimed at quashing opposition to military governments.

The implementation of the plan is thought to have resulted in a number of high profile murders of dissidents.

Amnesty loophole

The judge ordered General Videla to be put under preventative detention, but he is already under house arrest in connection with a separate probe into the theft of babies from political prisoners, who were then given for adoption to childless couples in the military.

An amnesty law, passed in 1985, had until recently protected the leaders of the military junta from prosecution.

However, it seems that enterprising lawyers are finding ways to get around it.

It is thought that General Videla's legal team will appeal against the indictment, but this order means that for the foreseeable future the former leader will remain under arrest.