563 convictions since 2006 for Argentine junta crimes

Buenos Aires: A total of 563 people have been convicted in Argentina since 2006 for rights violations committed under the country's brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship, justice officials said Saturday.

After the March 24, 1976 coup, the new authorities targeted political and social leaders and the seven years of military rule left some 30,000 people dead or missing.

Coming just days ahead of the 39th anniversary of the coup, today's announcement from the prosecutor of crimes against humanity said almost 900 people are still awaiting trial.

Another 613 have already been prosecuted, including the 563 who were convicted. Fifty were acquitted.

The return of democracy in 1983 was accompanied by an amnesty law but this was scrapped in 2003 by then president Nestor Kirchner, and declared unconstitutional by the supreme court three years later.

The report found that more than half of those convicted are in regular prisons, while about 40 per cent are serving their sentences at home.

About 45 of those accused are on the run and two others escaped after being convicted.

Several prosecutors across the country have recently expressed concerns that the number of cases being prosecuted was in decline.

In addition to widespread abductions, under the regime, the Argentine military arrested pregnant women and kidnapped their newborn babies, giving them to families with links to the government.