Princess Máxima's father, Jorge Zorreguieta, is being sued in the Netherlands for his complicity in the disapperances during the Videla regime in Argentina. The charges have been brought by family of one of the victims Samuel Slutzky, who disappeared in 1977.

Criminal lawyers Liesbeth Zegveld and Goran Sluiter announced on Wednesday that legal proceedings are being launched against Mr Zorreguieta, who was minister and deputy minister of agriculture in Argentina between 1976-1981.

The military junta that ruled Argentina in the 1970s was, according to Amnesty International, responsible for up to 30,000 deaths during what has become known as the Dirty War.

Change in law
A legal case was also brought against Princess Máxima’s father in 2001 in the Netherlands, but did not lead to any prosecutions. At the time, the Public Prosecutor said the case did not fall under Dutch jurisdiction.

There has since been a change in the law, so Mr Zorreguieta could now be charged in the Netherlands for crimes which took place elsewhere.

Videla victim in Netherlands
Samuel Leonardo Slutzky was arrested in 1977 and never heard from again. His daughter, Alejandra, arrived in the Netherlands in 1978 after eight months in hiding with her brother and mother, as an underage asylum-seeker.

Alejandra still lives in the Netherlands and is a member of the Socialist Party. Her novel Silence, published in 2003, tells her family's story.

(jn/ae/nc)

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