Latin America

Judi Lynn

(160,645 posts) Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:42 PM Aug 2015

Former Guatemala dictator granted 'special trial,' won't testify

World | Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:15am BST

Former Guatemala dictator granted 'special trial,' won't testify

GUATEMALA CITY

A Guatemalan court ruled on Tuesday that ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt will be given a "special trial" next year on genocide charges in which the 89-year-old will not have to testify and will not be sent to prison if convicted, due to mental incapacity.

The ruling revives the hopes of those seeking a new sentence against Rios Montt two years after a historic conviction of the former strongman was thrown out on a technicality.

Guatemala's forensic authority declared in July that Rios Montt was mentally unfit to be tried again on the charges that he was responsible for the killings of nearly 2,000 indigenous Maya during a particularly brutal stretch of the country's 36-year civil war.

Rios Montt's opponents accuse him of implementing a scorched earth policy, and his earlier conviction had been hailed as a landmark for justice in the Central American nation. The conflict claimed as many as 250,000 lives.

More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/08/26/uk-guatemala-trial-murder-idUKKCN0QV02X20150826?rpc=401

LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141188536

[center]

Efrain Rios-Montt and strong supporter, sponsor, and ally, Ronald Reagan [/center]

2 replies

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Former Guatemala dictator granted 'special trial,' won't testify (Original Post) Judi Lynn Aug 2015 OP

Ex-Guatemala leader to face retrial despite dementia Judi Lynn Aug 2015 #1

Forensic science in search of the ‘disappeared’ Judi Lynn Aug 2015 #2

Judi Lynn

(160,645 posts)

1. Ex-Guatemala leader to face retrial despite dementia

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:53 PM

Aug 2015

Ex-Guatemala leader to face retrial despite dementia

1 hour ago

Guatemala's former military leader General Efrain Rios Montt must face retrial for genocide despite suffering from dementia, a court has ruled. But the court ordered that the hearing must take place behind closed doors, and he cannot be sentenced if found guilty.

His trial is set for January next year.

The 89-year-old was found guilty in 2013 of ordering the mass killing of indigenous people in the early 1980s, but the conviction was overturned.

. . .He is accused of ordering the massacre of over 1,700 Ixil Maya people, as part of efforts to stamp out support for leftist guerrilla groups.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34058896

Judi Lynn

(160,645 posts)

2. Forensic science in search of the ‘disappeared’

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:56 PM

Aug 2015

Forensic science in search of the ‘disappeared’

Copyright: Lianne Milton/Panos

During Guatemala's civil war nearly 200,000 people were killed or 'disappeared'

A forensic foundation is investigating cases to set the historical record straight

Its approach is transferable to other conflict zones, but needs sustained funding

Guatemala’s method of uncovering human rights violations can help other post-conflict areas, says Fredy Peccerelli.

During Guatemala’s internal armed conflict (1960-1996) almost 200,000 people are thought to have been killed or 'disappeared' at the hands of repressive and violent regimes. Those lives matter. Their families’ demands are clear: they want to know what happened to their loved ones and they want their remains returned. They need truth and justice.

Using forensic sciences, the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) is assisting families by returning their loved ones’ remains, promoting justice, and setting the historical record straight.

A multidisciplinary process

The FAFG is a civil-society scientific organisation that works to strengthen the judicial system and respect human rights by investigating, documenting and generally uncovering evidence of human rights violations — particularly massacres and enforced disappearances — from the conflict.

More:
http://www.scidev.net/global/conflict/opinion/forensic-science-search-disappeared-guatemala-conflict.html

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