Ex-navy commander convicted over 2017 ARA San Juan submarine tragedy

A court in Río Gallegos, southern Santa Cruz Province, on Wednesday convicted a senior former naval officer over the 2017 implosion of the ARA San Juan submarine that left 44 sailors dead.

The submarine tragedy was the Argentine Navy's deadliest disaster in peacetime.

Claudio Villamide, commander of the submarine force at the time of the tragedy, was given a three-year suspended sentence for aggravated negligence and breach of duties as a public official and a six-year ban on holding public office.

The court’s trio of judges were unanimous in their ruling.

Three other former naval chiefs – captains Luis Enrique López Mazzeo, Héctor Aníbal Alonso and Hugo Correa – were acquitted. 

The verdict followed a trial that lasted more than four months and included 30 hearings.

Prosecuting lawyer Valeria Carreras told reporters at the end of the hearing that the ruling is “a huge step forward” that “delivers a measure of justice.”

"It is important that we were able to prove Villamide’s guilt. These were 44 preventable deaths, and it sends a message to the Armed Forces and the State to look after those who serve the country," the lawyer added.

Carreras also asked the families, who did not attend the reading out of the verdict, to "understand the significance of this. Even though there have been acquittals, it is an achievement.”

In a joint statement, Carreras and fellow lawyer Lorena Arias said the ruling marked "the first time in Argentine history" that a naval commander had been criminally convicted over the deaths of members of his own crew in peacetime.

"For almost nine years, the official explanation was that the sea is dangerous and accidents happen. Today the courts said otherwise: it was not the sea that sank the submarine, but human decisions and omissions," they said.

The lawyers also said they would appeal once the court publishes its full reasoning on August 21, challenging both the acquittals and what they described as the leniency of Villamide's sentence.

The ARA San Juan went missing on November 15, 2017, a week after it set off from Ushuaia on Argentina's southern tip for its home port at the Mar del Plata naval base.

Before vanishing, it reported that seawater had entered the ventilation system, causing one of its battery banks to short-circuit and start a fire.

Hours after the submarine's final communication, monitoring stations detected a loud acoustic signal later determined to have been caused by an implosion as the vessel descended uncontrollably.

The submarine sank and subsequently imploded.

More than a dozen countries took part in the weeks-long search for the vessel, which was eventually located a year later by private British marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity, its hull crushed and deformed on the seabed some 907 metres below the surface.

The disaster traumatised Argentines and led to questions about whether the Navy had fulfilled its duty of care towards the 43 men and one woman aboard.

Prosecutors told the trial that the ship was in a poor state of repair and that its demise was "foreseeable." They argued that Villamide failed to take into account the submarine's "deficient enlistment conditions" as well as recommendations that it undergo further safety inspections.

The submarine had a diving restriction of 100 metres because it had outstanding tests to undergo following a mid-life refit.

Villamide denied any wrongdoing and insisted the vessel was seaworthy.

The wreckage of the submarine still lies on the seabed in the South Atlantic, 500 kilometres (310 miles) off Santa Cruz Province, where the trial took place.

– TIMES/AFP/NA