Acosta, Jorge Eduardo

   Also known as “el Tigre” (the Tiger). Argentine navy captain and head of GT-3/32, a navy task force based at the Escuela Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA, Navy Mechanics School). Along with colleagues like Rear Admiral Rubén Jacinto Chamorro, Acosta was responsible for the kidnapping, detention, and murder of at least 5,000 political prisoners, many of them thrown alive into the Atlantic Ocean from navy aircraft. He was also responsible for ordering the deaths of Dagmar Hagelin, a 17-yearold Swedish girl; Léonie Renée Duquet and Alice Domon, French nuns; and Azucena Villaflor de Vicenti, founder of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. He escaped trial and punishment, however, benefiting from the controversial law Obediencia Debida (Due Obedience), which exonerated junior officers (those below the rank of brigadier general). But because several of his victims were international citizens, other countries have taken an interest in prosecuting him. On 14 March 2007 an Italian court sentenced him, Alfredo Astiz, and three other officers to life in prison in absentia for the abduction and murder of three Italian citizens—Angela Maria Aieta and Giovanni and Susanna Pegoraro. He is also wanted in France and Sweden, and could face trial in Argentina, as well—the amnesty laws that shielded him and other officers from prosecution have since been struck down by the Supreme Court.