Guatemalan soldiers arrested over Totonicapan protest killings

11 October 2012 Last updated at 20:13 ET
Guatemalan soldiers arrested over Totonicapan protest killings

Guatemala has arrested an army colonel and eight soldiers accused of killing indigenous demonstrators during a protest last week.

Col Juan Chiroy Sal and the troops were charged with extrajudicial killing.

Prosecutors say they opened fire, killing six demonstrators who had blocked a motorway during a protest over electricity prices in Totonicapan, west of the capital.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina initially denied military involvement.

At a news conference last week, he said unidentified people had shot the demonstrators - most of them indigenous Guatemalan - from the back of a lorry with a civilian licence plate.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19918713