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Julio Héctor Simón (born 12 August 1940), nom-de-guerre Turco Julián ("Julian the Turkish"), is an Argentinian former police officer. He was known for being a torturer during the National Reorganization Process in Argentina. His case was famous due to his brutality and revindication of Nazi ideas, but also after a presidential pardon of president Carlos Menem he started to make appearances in television and confrontation with some of his old victims.[1]
After years of avoiding legal proceedings, in 2006 his case was the first one treated in the Supreme Court of Argentina and his pardon revoked.[2]
He started his career in the Argentine Navy, but after a short period he solicited his entry to the Argentine Federal Police as a Sergeant. He was assigned as a torturer in the El Olimpo detention center during the dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process in 1976. He was also in charge of illegal arrests.[3][4]
According to Simón in "El Olimpo" he was in charge of deciding who can live in the detention center. His decision was "in general terms we kill the whole world".[5]
After the return to democracy in Argentina in December 1983, he moved to Brazil in order to avoid judicial processes against him, but eventually returned to Argentina after the sanction of the Full stop law and the Law of Due Obedience, making appearances in some of Argentina's media.[3]
The derogation of these laws made possible trials against him for crimes against humanity; also the Supreme Court of Argentina decided in relation of his case the imprescriptibility of the crimes in 2006, making possible the opening of other lawsuits against people involved in the Dirty War even with a presidential pardon from Carlos Menem.[6][7]
He always justified his actions as part of a fight against communists, saying "...what I did I did for my Fatherland, my faith, and my religion. Of course I would do it again", during an interview with the American journalist Marguerite Feitlowitz.[8]
Simón was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the first trial and then 23 years.[5][9]
According to some witnesses, he never denied his sympathy with Nazism and even to using a swastika as a keychain and fantasizing of being a part of the Gestapo. According to these versions, he was more cruel with Jewish people, being gentle with other detainees.[8]
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