BACKGROUND ON Tl B T MERM _c Jacobo Timerman publisher and editor of the Buenos Aires newspaper La Opinion was detained by Argentine security forces in April 1977 lie was held incommunicado for several months and severely tortured during that period Although a military court found Mr Timerman innocent oE any wrongdoing he remained in prison by executive order The Argentine Supreme Court subsequently ruled last year that no legal basis existed under the state of siege powers of the Constitution for 'his continued detention The Executive however used its powers under the Institutional Act of 1976 under which the regime defined its powers to ccntinu his confinement and merely transferred Mr Timerman from prison to house arrest Armed guards occupied his apartment and he was permitted few visitors or contact with the outsiJe world other th in his family and his rabbi He was forbidden oE course to leave the apartment and wa unable to atte11d his son's wedding in Israel earlier this year or to accept the Hubert Humphrey Freedom Award Crom B'nai B' Ith in New York Uds summer ·-• ' I' llecause Jacobo Timcrman had earned a reputation for excellence in journalism and for his honest and courageous portrayal o 1 uman rights abuses his arrest and continued detention drew widespread ct iticism in international journalistic circles as well as among Members of Congress and other important sectors of American opinion Ills continued deprivation of liberty after having been fully exonerated by the courts clearly illuminated the Military Junta's arbitrariness as well as the impotence of the Argentine judiciary in the face of flagrant abuses is case came o symbolize the plight of the thousands of Argentines who have been deprived of their liberty during the lost 3-1 2 years of 1 11 oin about 1400 remain in executive detention Considerable '0110 cc sionnl and public int crest dev loped in this case Nun erous articles appeared in the U S press including countless editorials and an essay by Time1 n rn's son this summer in Newsweek and important nongovernmental organizations joined their voic s in th ' y0ner 1l protest llis release la t rnntll was fro L-pil c news in the major dailes t i II The President raiseJ Mr Ti1nermJn's case with President Videla when the latter was i11 Washington for the Panama Canal Treaties signing ceremony Secretary Vance reviewed his case in detail when he visited Argentina in November of 1977 Under Secretary Newsom and Assistant Secretaries Todman and Derian and others reiterated our concerns in the interim Ambassador Castro int rceded energetically on every possible occasion with the highest levels of the Argentine Government in an effort to secure Mr Timerman's release In a decision made public September 25 the Argentine Supreme Court ruling on Timerman's case a second time found that Timerman's continued detention was illegal under the terms of the 1976 Act and ordered his release On September 25 Timerman was expelled from Argentina by the military junta in accordance with a decree which also stripped him of his Argentine nationality Timerman departed or Israel where he was joined by his family Timerman's visit to the United Stales has serious political implications for the Argentine leadership his release made the moderates within the regime more vulnerable to hardli11e criticism and pressures and thus possibly has reduced th ir ability to effect further progress on l1u an rights Army CINC Viola told Ambassador Castro tl1e decision to release Timerman had precipitated seriotlS dissension within the military ranks and that movement on other cases of U S interest such as the continued detention of Jnime Lokman and Horacio Saragovi --two Cilses raised frequently by U S Jewish groups here -- would be delayed until the discontent settled down Senior military leaders originally voted 6-3 against Timerman's release to reverse the decision Pr sident Videla the civilian Minister of Justice and the entire Supreme Court threatened to resign A few days later hardline General Benjamin Menendez attempted a coup because he said the Videla government as compromising the goals of the revolution Evidence of such compromise h suggested included the release of Tirnerman the failure to continue the war against subversives the expansion of the rule of law and toleration of court orders returning subversives to their jobs Timerman wishes to express his appreciation to the U S Government for its assistance in his case At the same time too l1igh a profile for Timerman coulcJ milke more difficult tt e releiJ L· r f some other L 'r I prisoners in Argentina complicate the position of the Jewish community there as well as strengthen the position of hard-liners in the Argentine military leadership ·'-'·SP _ ------ I $ ftt ltttl tr a '·' Al ll• I •M 44$44l iili l lld lililllillll Drafted ARl ECA GJWhitman mas 10 30 79 129166 Clearances ARA ECA CWRuser ARh SDEaton HA PFlood - J m 1 - ' · •·· • ' df a 11 II lff ilSHiRC