Ex-naval commander convicted of shooting down submarine that killed 44 Argentine sailors

An Argentine court convicted a former top military officer on Wednesday over the 2017 seizure of a submarine in the South Atlantic that killed all 44 crew members.

The crash of ARA San Juan it was the greatest peacetime disaster for the Argentine navy.

Claudio Villamide, the submarine commander at the time of the disaster, was given a three-year suspended sentence for gross negligence and breach of duty.

A federal court in the southern state of Santa Cruz also banned him from holding public office for six years.

Three other former navy chiefs were released.

The San Juan was lost on Nov. 15, 2017, a week after leaving Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina for its home port of the Mar del Plata naval base.

Before disappearing, it reported that seawater had entered the ventilation system, causing the ship's battery to cut off and start a fire.

It sank and sank.

More than a dozen countries took part in a week-long search for the ship, but it was finally found by a British marine robotics company at a depth of 3,000 meters, its hull mangled and crippled. At the time, the Argentine navy released a photo of the wreck, showing “the living area that contains the batteries and all systems and equipment of the submarine.”

The discovery was announced two days after the families of the missing sailors held a commemoration one year after the sub disappeared.

“This was 44 preventable deaths”

The disaster, which inspired a 2024 Netflix documentary, traumatized Argentines and led to questions about whether the navy had fulfilled its duty to care for the 43 men and one woman on board.

Prosecutors told the trial that the ship was in poor condition before it left and that its death was “possible.”

A lawyer representing most of the victims' families dismissed the decision as “enough” and announced plans to appeal the case.

“The families will challenge the decision to drop the charges and demand tougher sentences,” Valeria Carreras told AFP.

However, he praised the trial as a “big step” in accountability for the deaths of the sailors and expressed satisfaction that the court found Villamide guilty.

“These were 44 deaths that could have been avoided, and it sends a message to the armed forces and the State to protect those who serve the nation,” he said.

Victoria Morales, whose son, Esteban Garcia, 31, died in his arrest, said those involved were “left unpunished.”

“Once again they stab us, trample on his name, leave us badly, leave us without a member of our family…. How can I be satisfied?” Morales told AFP from the northern province of Tucuman.

Prosecutors argued that Villamide failed to consider the submarine's “deficient registration conditions” and a request for a safety inspection.

He denied that the ship was seaworthy.

The wreck still lies at the bottom of the sea, 310 kilometers from the coast of the province of Santa Cruz. Hours after announcing the discovery of the sub, the Argentine government said it was it cannot recover ship, drawing anger from the relatives of the lost sailors.