IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 622

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government

of Argentina should provide an immediate and final resolution to the

Buenos Aires Yoga School case.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 11, 2000

Mr. TOWNS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that

the Government of Argentina should provide an immediate and final resolution to the Buenos Aires Yoga

School case.

Whereas the Buenos Aires Yoga School is a philosophical entity dedicated to investigating, teaching, and spreading

the philosophical ideas of humanity for the benefit of humanity;

Whereas the Buenos Aires Yoga School case demonstrates

that due process and the rule of law are not being uniformly respected in Argentina;

Whereas the statute of limitations in the Buenos Aires Yoga

School case expired more than 7 years ago;
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Whereas the Argentine National Supreme Court of Justice

ruled on December 20, 1994, that the lower courts hearing the Buenos Aires Yoga School case have shown ‘‘a

dogmatic will of denying the requested benefit’’;

Whereas the Argentine Corte de Casacion on October 21,

1999, ordered the appellate court to define the procedural status of the members of the Buenos Aires Yoga

School in light of the substantial amount of time that

had passed since the filing of the case on December 13,

1993;

Whereas the Government of Argentina refuses to acknowledge the denial of due process demonstrated in the Buenos Aires Yoga School case;

Whereas Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has instructed

personnel at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires

to investigate and report on the Buenos Aires Yoga

School case;

Whereas judicial corruption in Argentina was the subject of

a briefing to the Human Rights Caucus of the House of

Representatives on July 22, 1999, in which the Buenos

Aires Yoga School case was the model example of such

corruption;

Whereas numerous reports have been made about anti-Semitic tendencies within the Argentine judiciary with respect to the persecution of members of the Buenos Aires

Yoga School;

Whereas approximately 50 percent of the members of the

Buenos Aires Yoga School are Jewish;

Whereas the Buenos Aires Yoga School case and the bombings of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association and
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the Israeli Embassy are all unresolved after more than 6

years;

Whereas members of the congressional staff traveled to Argentina to investigate the charges of ideological and antiSemitic persecution in the Buenos Aires Yoga School

case;

Whereas the human rights movement known as Mothers of

Plaza de Mayo has described the modus operandi in the

persecution of members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School

as being the same as that used during the Argentine military dictatorship during which 30,000 Argentine civilians

disappeared;

Whereas members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School were imprisoned by the Argentine judiciary with no evidence

against them;

Whereas the judge currently handling the Buenos Aires Yoga

School case was appointed by the Argentine military dictatorship;

Whereas 2 adult members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School

were declared mentally unfit and stripped of their rights

in clear violation of their most basic human rights;

Whereas Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel

called for the impeachment of the acting judge in the

Buenos Aires Yoga School case for his ruling of insanity

in the case against 2 adult members of the Buenos Aires

Yoga School;

Whereas President Clinton has repeatedly urged the Government of Argentina to ensure that the Buenos Aires Yoga

School case be resolved as expeditiously as possible; and

Whereas numerous Members of Congress have written letters

to the Argentine authorities regarding the Buenos Aires
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Yoga School case and have never received a satisfactory

answer: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the Government of Argentina should pro3 vide an immediate and final resolution to the Buenos Aires

4 Yoga School case.

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