The Federal Oral Criminal Court of Río Gallegos issued its verdict in the trial over the ARA San Juan submarine tragedy, which sank in November 2017 in the South Atlantic with 44 crew members on board.
Navy Captain Claudio Javier Villamide, who headed the Submarine Force at the time of the sinking, was sentenced to three years of suspended imprisonment.
By majority decision, the judges found him criminally responsible for breach of public official duties and aggravated negligent disaster due to the deaths of the 44 submariners.
In the same ruling, the court unanimously acquitted Rear Admiral Luis Enrique López Mazzeo, then commander of Navy Readiness and Training, and Captains Héctor Aníbal Alonso and Hugo Miguel Correa.
The full grounds of the sentence will be released on 21 August. Until then, the ruling leaves open legal, institutional and family debates over responsibility, evidence, chain of command and duties of oversight.
The decision departed from the requests of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which had sought prison sentences for all four officers. The private plaintiffs representing victims' families had also requested broader convictions for what they described as serious and systematic negligence.
Plaintiff lawyer Luis Tagliapietra, father of one of the deceased submariners, said he will appeal and seek the annulment of the trial before the Criminal Cassation Court.
The case again places the Argentine state before an open wound: the search for justice for the 44 crew members of the ARA San Juan and the need to clarify how responsibility is assigned in high-risk military operations.
