Of condors and judges: Archival musings over a judicial investigation

Abstract

The paper discusses some archival issues that emerged during a judicial investigation carried out by the Prosecutor's Office of Rome (Italy) regarding human rights violations in South America in the 1970s. More specifically, the investigation concerned the death of some Italo-Argentine and Italo-Uruguayan citizens, arguably killed by intelligence agents who belonged to the 'Condor System'. The paper makes three different-although interrelated-points: (1) it shows how transnational justice is leading to the construction of complex case files, with an international nature, and to international and local conflicts over the legal standing of documentary evidence; (2) it argues that case files of trials celebrated overseas, regarding gross human rights abuses, should be made available to the people in the affected countries; (3) on the basis of the author's experience as consultant in this judicial investigation, the paper emphasizes that archival description according to professional standards helps judicial work. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.