Former military leader Jorge Rafael Videla has been charged with an additional 49 cases of torture, kidnapping and murder. The 84-year-old is already serving a life sentence for human rights abuses committed during the Dirty War, the last period of military rule in Argentina, which lasted from 1976-83 and during which time an estimated 30,000 people were disappeared.
Videla, who headed the junta from 1976-81, is already set to face trial in September for stealing 33 babies of political opponents.
The case against him was widened after new forensic evidence came to light, but a trial date for the new charges yet to be set.
It is not the first time Videla has been tried - he was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 of the murders of 66 people and the torture of 93 others. But in 1990 then-president Carlos Menem pardoned him, along with other military leaders from the Dirty War, citing the need to get over past conflicts and move on.
In 1998 Videla was arrested again, and after a brief period in prison, he was transferred to house arrest due to health issues. Menem’s pardon was declared unconstitutional in 2006, and the charges were restored. He was transferred to the Campo de Mayo military prison in 2008, and is one of 100 people facing charges for human rights abuses committed during the Dirty War.
