Abstract
For over three decades, the families of those who disappeared during Argentina’s Military Dictatorship have been engaged in political actions that demand justice for human rights violations during the repression. Legal means of achieving penal liability have opened up since the annulment of amnesty laws in 2005. Since then, narratives of the past have definitely taken centre stage - and, hence, been in dispute - in the Argentinean courts. Based on an ethnography of "trials for crimes against humanity", this article analyses how victims, State agents accused of violations and judicial actors have converted the courts into a privileged place for the attribution of meanings to the dictatorial past. It questions how the judicial system is being converted into an arena for disputes over the production of knowledge and truth concerning the military dictatorship in Argentina, through an analysis of the enchantment of politics and its symbolism that takes into account the emotional and existential aspects of human action.
Key-words:
Memory; Military Dictatorship; Human Rights; Politics; Moralities