Representing the victims, Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of ECCHR, submitted a criminal complaint in autumn 1999 against a manager at Mercedes Benz Argentina in connection with his role in the disappearance of trade unionists. These proceedings were discontinued by the public prosecution in Nuremberg-Fürth in 2003. An investigation has now been launched into the matter by prosecution authorities in Argentina. In September 2009, ECCHR submitted an amicus curiae brief in the case setting out Argentina’s human rights obligation to investigate corporate involvement in crimes against humanity during the military dictatorship.
In 2004, 22 relatives of the disappeared Argentine trade unionists, joined by survivors in the US, filed a lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler AG with US courts. They based their claim on the Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA), a US statute dating from 1789. In May 2011, the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena decided that the courts in San Francisco do have jurisdiction in the case. The case was subsequently referred to the US Supreme Court in order to clarify the question of jurisdiction. In August 2013, ECCHR and the German Institute for Human Rights submitted an amicus brief to the Court in support of the petition of the relatives and survivors. The brief, which was drafted in cooperation with international law expert Alexander Graser, argues that US courts do have jurisdiction and that Germany would not be a viable forum for the case.
