[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 622 Introduced in House (IH)]







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;
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 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 anti-Semitic 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 Yoga School case and have never 
        received a satisfactory answer: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is 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.
                                 <all>