AKIPRESS.COM - Two former navy officers in Argentina have been sentenced to life for crimes against humanity committed between 1976 and 1983 under military rule, BBC reports.

Captains Alfredo Astiz and Jorge Eduardo Acosta were found guilty of involvement in the torture and murder of hundreds of political opponents.

They are among 54 people who faced trial for crimes committed at the Naval Mechanical School, or Esma.

Astiz, known as the "angel of death", has refused to apologise.

"The human rights organisations are groups of vengeance and persecution," he said during the trial. "I will never ask for forgiveness."

Both Astiz and Acosta, known as "the tiger", were already sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for other counts of torture, murder and forced disappearance.

Out of the 54 people indicted, 29 were sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison; 19 were given sentences ranging from eight to 25 years in jail; and six were acquitted.