Guatemala: Rios Montt trial annulled

Organisations across Guatemala, including the Conference of Men and Women Religious and the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala, have denounced the annulment of the sentencing of the former president, Rios Montt, for genocide and crimes against humanity.

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On Friday 10 May, Rios Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison for massacres, forced displacements, torture and rapes perpetrated against Guatemala’s Mayan Ixil communities between 1982 and 1983. The atrocities took place during a 17-month period when Rios Montt was president as a result of a coup, at the height of the country’s bloody armed conflict.

The Guatemalan constitutional court has not invalidated the entire trial, which began on 19 March. Instead, the court has ordered the proceedings to be rolled back and reset to 19 April. Rios Montt will now return to house arrest, where he has been held since the case against him began in January 2012.

CAFOD’s partners in local human rights organisations and the Church said: “The decision is a giant insult to the victims and survivors who have believed in the justice system. The genocide against the Ixil people has been recognised and condemned by a national court. The story has been written, the truth cannot be erased, and we will continue to demand justice through legal means.”

The decision comes at a time when the Diocese of Verapaz is monitoring a new mass grave site in Chisec, after the exhumation of 535 bodies in another mass grave in Coban. There have also been calls for a protest in Guatemala City against the court decision.  

Clare Dixon, CAFOD’s Head of Latin America and the Caribbean, gave this response to the annulment: “We must not forget the human stories behind these headline-grabbing legal machinations. The court has heard testimonies from dozens of survivors, and their words have helped to show that the military at the time considered Mayan Ixil people to be legitimate military targets.

“Now is a pivotal time for the country, which has become polarised over this trial, to remain calm and peaceful while calling for justice.”

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Listen to CAFOD's Clare Dixon discussing the genocide on Vatican Radio>>