Héctor Febres (died 10 December 2007) was an Argentine

coastguard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

officer who died while awaiting

sentencing In law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences for mult ...

after being

tried In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

for torture. Febres was accused of having tortured dissidents during Argentina's

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

period. Thousands of dissidents were tortured at the Navy School of Mechanics, known as ESMA, for seven years beginning in 1976. Febrés was accused of torturing prisoners at the ESMA, and the prosecution had asked for

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. Febres was found dead in his cell from apparent cyanide poisoning days before he was to be sentenced.
BBC: Argentine cyanide family arrested , 14 December 2007 His wife and adult children, and two guards, were arrested in connection with his death; they had dined with him the previous evening. It was reported that "Febres had stories to tell and many suspected he might talk", and police were investigating whether he was murdered or killed himself; prosecution lawyers were convinced he was silenced by people linked to the military. Febres would have been the first person from the ESMA to be sentenced.

References

2007 deaths Argentine Navy officers Operatives of the Dirty War Deaths by poisoning Year of birth missing {{Argentina-mil-bio-stub