The Court of Appeal denied a petition to prevent the DNA of the two adopted children of the owner of Clarín from being compared with a national data bank of the victims of the dirty war because they failed to sign the relevant paperwork.
Marcela and Felipe Herrera Noble, who were adopted in 1976 by the owner of the Clarín media group, Ernestina Herrera de Noble, are suspected of being the abducted children of victims of the 1976 to 1983 military dictatorship. The Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo, a lobby group made up of the families of victims, have been campaigning since the 1990s to find the missing children of those who were killed by the military regime. The Abuelas have been in dispute with the Noble Herreras since 2000 about whether they should submit their DNA to be compared with Argentina’s national data bank.
The Court of Appeal rejected the Herrera Nobles’ case that they should not be forced to have their DNA compared with the national data bank on the grounds that their paperwork was not in order. The judges announced on Friday that the appeal was invalid because one of the documents used in the case had only been signed by the Herrera Noble’s lawyers but not the defendants themselves.
The judgement was criticised in the right-leaning Argentine Daily La Nación for “not considering any of the arguments at the core (of the case)” However, it was viewed positively by one of the lawyers of the Abuelas Alan Lud, who told the paper Página 12 that it was a “very important ruling” and said that “finally, after so many years we’ve achieved the possibility of finding truth and justice.”
The Herrera Nobles were appealing an original ruling by the court of San Martin, which ordered that genetic samples should be taken from them by force. Samples were taken three months ago, but have yet to be compared with the national DNA bank due to the ongoing legal dispute. The Herrera Noble’s have announced their intention to appeal now to the Supreme Court.
