The Argentinian government has sentenced 29 persons to life in prison after a protracted trial involving some 800 cases of kidnapping, torture and murder during the 1976 – 1983 dictatorship in that country.

Many defendants, including former Navy Captain Alfredo Astiz, known as the ‘Angel of Death’ and Captain Jorge Acosta known as the ‘Tiger’ were already serving life sentences for dirty war crimes committed at the ESMA Naval Mechanics School that was secretly converted into a prison and torture centre.

However, for the first time in the ESMA mega case, Wednesday’s sentences included convictions for ‘death flights’ when people were drugged and their bodies dropped in the River Plate.

Lita Boitano, head of the ‘Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained for Political Reasons’, who lost two children during the dictatorship was among the hundreds of people who gathered outside the federal courthouse in Buenos Aires listening to the verdicts which lasted more than three hours.

“Giving sedatives to our loved ones before or during the flight before throwing them into the river or sea is unbelievable, it’s dismal,” Boitano told journalists after the convictions.

In addition to the life sentences, 19 people received jail terms of eight to 25 years. Six persons were cleared of wrong doing including Juan Alemann, a Minister of Finance during the dictatorship, and one of the civilians who was accused of planning rights abuses.

Human rights groups in Argentina estimate than the nation’s military government killed up to 30,000 people most of whom their bodies were never found during the dictatorship.