Guatemalan Officers Face Sexual Slavery Charges in Historic Trial

Guatemalan Officers Face Sexual Slavery Charges in Historic Trial
Analysis by Luz Mendez

GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 28 2014 (IPS) - On Oct. 14, Guatemala’s Court for High-Risk Crimes ruled that charges would be brought against two members of the Army for sexual slavery and domestic slavery against q’eqchís women in the military outpost of Sepur Zarco, and other serious crimes perpetrated in the framework of the government counterinsurgency policies during the armed conflict.

At the public hearing, Judge Miguel Angel Galvez ruled that there is sufficient evidence to open a trial against Colonel Esteelmer Reyes Girón, former chief of the Sepur Zarco military outpost, and Heriberto Valdéz Asij, former military commissioner in the region.

Reyes will be tried for the crimes against humanity of sexual violence and sexual slavery, domestic slavery, and the assassination of Dominga Coc and her two young daughters on the base. Valdez will face charges for the crimes against humanity of sexual violence and forced disappearance.

Acts of violence

For six years, women of rural communities of the Alta Verapaz and Izabal departments were the objects of sexual slavery and domestic slavery at the military outpost of the community of Sepur Zarco, located on the border between the townships of Panzós and El Estor.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/guatemalan-officers-face-sexual-slavery-charges-in-historic-trial/

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Colonel Esteelmer Reyes Girón



Heriberto Valdéz Asij

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