Trelew Massacre Victims Seek Justice Against Perpetrator
This judicial opinion addresses an appeal concerning a lawsuit filed by family members of victims of the 1972 Trelew Massacre in Argentina against Roberto Guillermo Bravo, one of the involved military officers. The plaintiffs sought damages under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) for the extrajudicial killing and torture of their relatives. The central issue revolves around the equitable tolling of the TVPA's ten-year statute of limitations, specifically whether extraordinary circumstances prevented the plaintiffs from filing their claims sooner due to fear of reprisal, inability to locate Mr. Bravo, and difficulty discovering crucial evidence. The court vacated and remanded the case, seeking more specific factual findings regarding the tolling period and the diligence of one of the plaintiffs in their representative capacity, while upholding the exclusion of evidence regarding the victims' alleged political affiliations as impermissible character evidence.
