San Francisco Frontiers - Eight years on, trial begins in Argentina submarine implosion

The ARA San Juan's crushed wreckage still lies more than 900 meters (2,950 feet) deep in a remote area of the South Atlantic, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) off the coast of Argentina's Santa Cruz province -- where the trial is due to take place.

The submarine went missing a week after it set off from Ushuaia on Argentina's southern tip and was returning to its home port at the Mar del Plata naval base.

More than a dozen countries contributed to the search for the submarine, which vanished on November 15 after reporting that seawater had entered the ventilation system, causing a battery on the diesel-electric vessel to short-circuit and start a fire.

- 'Felt like nobodies' -

None of the families of the victims - 43 men and one woman -- are expected to attend the trial.

"They can't even afford to make photocopies, never mind plane tickets and lodgings," said lawyer Valeria Carreras, who represents 34 families of victims.

"The most important thing is that the trial is finally happening," she told AFP.

"These are people without power, money or a family name. They have felt like nobodies for the past eight years, which is why there is so much anticipation."

The defendants -- former Training Command chief Luis Lopez Mazzeo, former Submarine Force commander Claudio Villamide, the Submarine Command's former chief of staff Hector Alonso and former head of operations Hugo Correa -- face between one and five years in prison.

The charges are dereliction of duty and aggravated negligent destruction.

In 2021, a court-martial dismissed Villamide for negligence and sentenced other officers to up to 45 days in jail for concealing information.

"It was an avoidable tragedy," Carreras said.

Carreras accused the Navy of harboring a "culture of silence"

- 'Make it disappear' -

The court ignored a request from lawyer Luis Tagliapietra, whose 27-year-old son Alejandro died on the submarine, to hold the trial in Mar del Plata, where crew members had lived.

Victims' families protested in front of the Navy buildings in the city after it was revealed Argentina's ex-president Mauricio Macri had ordered illegal surveillance on them.

Macri was prosecuted over the scandal in a case closed last year by the Supreme Court.

"By taking the trial to Rio Gallegos (Santa Cruz's provincial capital), so far from Buenos Aires, they are trying to make the tragedy disappear," Tagliapietra told AFP.

The hearings will take place over four consecutive days, with a week's break before the next session.

The hypothesis is that the submarine suffered a valve failure that allowed water to enter the battery compartment, triggering a fire and then an explosion.

But testing this theory would involve salvaging the submarine's wreckage, a multimillion-dollar operation, according to plaintiffs.

"It's very difficult to convict someone of a crime when you don't really know what happened," Tagliapietra said.

"There's resignation among the families. I'm still fighting. It's the promise I made to my son."

V.Mitchell--SFF