Ref: Carlos Menem seharusnya pindah ke NKRI, karena di NKRI para petinggi 
negara yang tinggi-tinggi dan keluarga mereka bila melakukan pelanggaran hukum 
gampang bebas dari tuntutan dan sanksi hukum. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-argentina-menem-idUSBRE92710920130308?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29

Former Argentine president Menem convicted of arms smuggling
 
BUENOS AIRES | Fri Mar 8, 2013 1:06pm EST 

(Reuters) - An appeals court convicted former Argentine President Carlos Menem 
on Friday of smuggling arms to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s during a decade 
in power remembered for free-market reforms and corruption.

The court said it had found Menem guilty of being "coauthor of the offense of 
aggravated contraband" in a ruling that overturned a lower court's acquittal of 
the former leader on the same charges two years ago.

Menem, now a frail 82-year-old senator, has been charged with graft in other 
cases, but Friday's ruling was his first conviction. Several co-defendants, 
including former Defense Minister Oscar Camilion were also found guilty.

Menem said during the original trial that he was "completely innocent" and had 
no idea the weapons shipments he authorized to Venezuela and Panama would be 
diverted to countries under arms embargoes.

Argentina was barred from supplying Ecuador with weapons since it played a 
peace-keeping role after Ecuador and Peru fought a brief war in 1995. Arms 
sales to Croatia were internationally banned during the wars that tore apart 
the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995.

Under Argentine law, Menem can appeal to the Supreme Court.

Still a senator for his home province of La Rioja, the flamboyant Menem 
governed Argentina from 1989 to 1999, pushing free-market reforms such as the 
privatization of leading airline Aerolineas Argentinas and energy company YPF.

Such policies have fallen out of favor with many Argentines, who blame them for 
precipitating a deep 2001-02 economic crisis, and both YPF and Aerolineas 
Argentinas have been renationalized.

During his presidency, Menem was known for a flashy lifestyle and he married a 
former Miss Universe half his age after leaving office.

In a 2001 interview with Reuters, Menem's brother Eduardo blamed the former 
president's arrest for arms-trafficking on rivals who wanted to "wipe him off 
the political map."

(Reporting by Alejandro Lifschitz; Writing by Helen Popper; Editing by Cynthia 
Osterman)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kirim email ke