Prosecutor depicted in Oscar-nominated "Argentina, 1985" on lessons from junta trial

• The film has already won a Golden Globe, as well as the Goya award for best Ibero-American film.

What he's saying: "It seems to me that Argentina in 1985 echoes democracy in the world during 2023, because [the prosecution] at its heart dealt with issues of power, legality, and justice that we still see today," Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was an assistant prosecutor of the junta trial, tells Marina.

• Those calls for justice, no matter how powerful the people put on the stand are, can be heard nowadays in cases of U.S. police brutality.

The big picture: The junta trial in Argentina marked the first time in history that a civilian government tried a previous military regime for its atrocities.

• The trial resulted in life sentences for two of the most well-known junta leaders, Jorge Rafael Videla and Emilio Massera, and prison time for other military heads.
• Trials for lower-level officials are ongoing. Last year, 58 perpetrators were convicted of crimes varying from sexual torture to carrying out so-called death flights, where presumed rebels were drugged and thrown from airplanes.

• Authorities and families are also still searching for those forcibly disappeared and identifying people taken from women who gave birth while detained and illegally adopted by military families.

Of note: Moreno Ocampo, who also served as the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court when it was established in 2002, teaches a course at USC's film school analyzing how justice is portrayed in popular culture.

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