Buenos Aires , Argentina ( CNN ) -- Marianela Galli waited 34 years for the men who killed her family to be punished . On Wednesday night , inside a packed courtroom in downtown Buenos Aires , she learned their fates . `` We have justice and these people are going to jail and I can finally walk in the streets without them , '' she said . Sixteen former Argentine military officers received sentences ranging from 18 years to life in prison for their roles in human rights abuses committed during Argentina 's 1976 to 1983 dictatorship . The bloody era , when the military used kidnapping , torture and murder to silence dissidents , became known as the `` Dirty War . '' The seven-year junta claimed an estimated 30,000 lives . Galli 's parents and grandmother were among the victims . On June 12 , 1977 , 16-month-old Marianela , her mother , Patricia , her father , Mario , and her grandmother , Violeta , were kidnapped from their home in Buenos Aires . They were taken to the Argentine Naval Mechanics School , known as ESMA , the largest and most notorious of dozens of detention centers operated by the Argentine military at that time . After three days in captivity , the military released Galli and gave her to her father 's family . Her parents and grandmother remained inside the ESMA , where they endured two months of torture before being drugged and then thrown alive from an airplane into the chilly waters of the South Atlantic . Thousands perished in the weekly Wednesday `` death flights , '' and most of their bodies were never recovered . `` I do n't have my parents with me . I do n't have my grandmother with me . They changed my life against my will and there is nothing I can do about it , '' she said . Marianela GalliÂ´s story is remarkable , but it is not unique . Five-thousand people passed through the white-washed walls of the ESMA . Most were never seen again . The conclusion of the two-year ESMA trial on Wednesday night provided a sense of closure for victims ' family members and friends , thousands of whom braved chilly spring temperatures outside the courthouse to watch a judge read the sentences on a big-screen television . `` This trial took many years to happen , but thankfully our former president , Nestor Kirchner , embraced the human rights cause . That is why we are here today , '' said Tati Almeida , a member of the human rights groups Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo , whose son , Alejandro , was `` disappeared '' by the military . The silent marches staged by victims ' mothers and grandmothers first brought the world 's attention to the atrocities taking place in Argentina in the late 1970s . They have continued their efforts to seek justice for the victims ever since . `` This is a very emotional moment for me . It will take me several days to process it . Because from the first accounts I gave years ago up until now , repeatedly testifying and testifying , we now finally have the first sentences , '' said Munu Actis , a survivor of the ESMA detention center . As Judge Daniel Obligado read out the sentences , the loudest jeers were reserved for Alfredo Astiz , a former Navy captain whose boyish looks and deceitful ways earned him the nickname the `` Blonde Angel of Death . '' Astiz worked as a Navy spy , gaining the trust of human rights activists and then choosing which ones to target for disappearance . Astiz has been unrepentant for his actions , saying he was simply following orders . `` This is not justice , this is a lynching , '' he said shortly before his sentencing . Astiz received a life sentence for his role in the deaths of renowned Argentine writer and journalist Rodolfo Walsh , French nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet , and Azucena Villaflor , one of the founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo . Mario Galli , Marianela Galli 's father , had come up in the naval ranks together with Astiz before deciding to leave the military because of their increasingly violent tactics . It was a decision that ultimately cost him his life . A French court sentenced Astiz to life in prison in 1990 for the kidnapping and killing of two French nuns . But he remained free for more than a decade . For many years , an amnesty law in Argentina giving former military officials immunity from prosecution over human rights abuses protected him . Galli recalls seeing him one night in 1998 when she was working as a waitress at a Buenos Aires restaurant . Astiz walked in at 1 a.m. and ordered a coffee . `` I felt absolutely helpless when I saw him . I could n't believe that this man who had helped kill my parents was allowed to be free , '' she said . The ESMA trial was just one of many taking place in Argentina . Amnesty laws protecting former military officers were stripped in 2005 under the leadership of the late president Nestor Kirchner . His wife and successor , Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner , has also been a vocal proponent of putting former officers on trial . This human rights initiative has helped bolster support for Fernandez , who was re-elected to a four-year term on October 23rd with 54 percent of the vote . `` The Kirchners are the ones who have made these trials happen , and I am eternally grateful to them for it , '' Jorge Morresi said after the sentencing on Wednesday . His cousin was `` disappeared '' in 1977 . The sentencing of the officers took more than one hour to read . When it was finished , thousands outside the courthouse hugged , cried , danced and sang . As she embraced her aunt , Monica , who raised her following her parents ' death , Marianela Galli reflected on the historic day that she had long hoped would arrive . `` This is a different kind of sensation . I am sad , and very happy because justice is coming , finally , '' she said .
16 former military officers are sentenced for human rights abuses . Woman whose family members were killed : `` We have justice '' Victims wait outside the courthouse to watch a judge read the sentences . Alfredo Astiz , known as the `` Blonde Angel of Death , '' is sentenced to life in prison .