The historic ruling against former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt, where he was found guilty of genocide and sentenced to 80 years in prison, has been annulled by the country’s constitutional court.

The court ruled last night in a controversial decision to overturn Ríos Montt’s guilty verdict, and ordered the trial to be restarted from where it stood on 19th April. The annulment passed with a three to two ruling, thereby invalidating all case proceedings heard between that point and the announcement of the verdict.

Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The case was suspended on 19th April when Ríos Montt, 86, was left without a defence lawyer after a disagreement between judges and the defendant over who should represent him. The court ordered the former president to be represented by a public defence lawyer, which was rejected by the defendant who insisted Francisco Garcia represent him. Garcia had previously been removed from proceedings after accusing judges of ‘bias’, and was again expelled on 19th April for criticising the presiding judge for not hearing his challenges. Garcia was eventually reinstated after an appeal, and the trial recommenced on 30th April, with the historic verdict reached on 10th May.

Yesterday’s ruling stated that the trial should have been stopped on 19th April until the issues with Garcia had been fully resolved. The court announced that the statements heard before this point would still stand but closing arguments would have to be presented again.

Amnesty International said the annulment represents a: “devastating blow for the victims of the serious human rights violations committed during the conflict.”

The trial, which began on 19th March, was the first time a former leader had been tried in a national court for genocide, despite numerous delays and setbacks. Ríos Montt spend one day in prison before his lawyers filed an appeal and he was sent to a military hospital for medical tests after he allegedly fainted. Ríos Montt’s lawyers have since demanded his release from the hospital, and he will now return to being under house arrest, where he has been held since the case against him began in January 2012.

Ríos Montt was found guilty for the atrocities committed during his 1982-1983 dictatorship, where he ordered and oversaw the killing of around 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil population of Guatemala. Ríos Montt’s military rule occurred during the country’s 36-year civil war where 200,000 people of mostly indigenous descent were killed or disappeared.

Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Ten days after the judicial panel announced its verdict on former military dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt’s human rights case in Guatemala, the ruling might be overturned.

After numerous set backs and controversies that delayed the trial time and time again, Rios Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to a total of 80 years in prison.

Guatemala’s Constitutional Court is presently reviewing discrepancies that occurred throughout the hearings to see if the verdict was reached while following legal protocol. The defence has announced that it will file an appeal against the panel’s verdict if the judges of the Constitutional Court fail to do so.

Francisco García Gudiel, Ríos Montt’s attorney, has voiced his rejection of the court ruling and his confidence that the decision will be revoked, whether the Constitutional Court steps in or an appeal lodged by the defence is carried out.

In comments to BBC Mundo Gudiel stated: “We reject the ruling because it is unjust. In Guatemala, like in any other part of the world, decisions should go in accordance with what has been proven and here that didn’t happen.”

He added: “There are many incidental questions waiting to be resolved and the Constitutional Court decided that it would not release a verdict until [these] had be resolved. The tribunal disobeyed this order and released the sentence. For this reason we do not agree with the verdict.”

Judicial discrepancies aside, the defence still asserts Ríos Montt’s innocence and claims that although “wartime excesses” did occur during the country’s civil war, they were committed by both sides and that “in Guatemala there was never genocide”.

After twice delaying to meet regarding the case verdict twice last week, the country’s Constitutional Court was to meet under extraordinary circumstances at 10am this morning to review calls for an appeal and complaints about issues during the trial.

Although the court had announced that it would make a decision today, nothing has been made public as of yet.

Forest fire (Wikipedia)

The fires have reached the Belizean border and large numbers of people are fighting to quell the flames including the forest brigade, army, and air force. The area has been hit by severe drought since April.

Yesterday Otto Pérez Molina, President of Guatemala, sent a further 400 soldiers to the affected area, as well as fuel supplies although ruled out declaring a state of emergency.

According to official figures around 16 separate fires have destroyed over 22,000 hectares in recent days. President Molina flew over the area to assess the damage and stated that an investigation by the Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (Conred) suggests that the fires may have been started deliberately by farmers in a bid to increase grazing ground for livestock.

“It is not necessary to declare a state of emergency as we are working to control the fires,” said President Molina. A Conred spokesperson said that since the beginning of the country’s dry season in April last year there have been over 590 fires reported in the departments of Quiché, Zacapa and Baja Verapaz, Sololá.

Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt. (Photo: Wikipedia)

In an historic verdict, former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt has been found guilty of genocide and sentenced to 50 years in prison for genocide and a further 30 for crimes against humanity. The verdict sets a global precedent, as Ríos Montt was the first former leader to be tried for genocide in a national court.

In reading her verdict, Judge Yassmin Barrios said: “We are completely convinced that in this case, elements demonstrating the intent to commit genocide have been proven … Ríos Montt, the head of state, knew exactly what was happening. He did nothing to stop it.”

Ríos Montt’s co-defendant and former head of military intelligence, José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, was acquitted.

Ríos Montt came to power following a coup in 1982, during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, in which an estimated 200,000 people, mostly of indigenous descent, were killed or disappeared.

For background on the case, see Avery Kelly’s report from 8th May 2013.

In a landmark human rights trial that began on 19th March, former military dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt is facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in Guatemala. Ríos Montt is implicated for overseeing the majority of atrocities committed during the country’s 36-year civil war, during which he served as de facto president for a 17-month period after gaining power through a military coup in 1982.

The task of bringing Ríos Montt’s case to the justice system for mass crimes committed three decades ago has been hindered by countless setbacks -habitual suspensions due to constitutional and appellate court deliberations, death threats (and actual attacks) against those who uncovered evidence, an endless tug-of-war over the legitimacy and applicability of a void amnesty law from the 1980s, complications after evidence suggested links with the current Guatemalan president, and, as of late, defence complaints regarding evidence validity and representation rights.

However, as the bureaucratic hindrances fade away and real hearings begin, Ríos Montt’s trial marks the first time that a former head of state has ever been tried for genocide or crimes against humanity in a domestic court, a monumental move on the part of Guatemalan justice.

Background

Between 1960 and 1996 Guatemalan government troops clashed with guerrilla forces and targeted suspected sympathisers with the leftist-rebel cause: mainly indigenous groups of Mayan descent. After the war, national peace and reconciliation

A chart showing human rights violations in Guatemala from 1962-1996 (Source: CEH database) Click to enlarge.

commissions and the UN reported that about 200,000 people had died or disappeared throughout the conflict and thousands of others were systematically raped and tortured in governmental efforts to eradicate ‘subversion’.

A report from Guatemala’s Commission For Historical Clarification (CEH) indicates that nearly half of all human rights violations that occurred during the country’s civil war happened under Ríos Montt’s rule.

Ríos Montt’s plan to root out opposition, paralleled by other dictatorships of the era, was based on the idea that temporary dictatorial rule was the only way to reinstate order and control in a society that had been infiltrated by leftist ideologies and subsequently spiralled into chaos -whatever the initial costs may be. In this way, Ríos Montt developed his National Plan of Security and Development, a ‘scorched earth’ policy launched in 1982 that called for and justified persecution of suspected subversives to the point that they were not just pacified, but disappeared completely.

“There is no possible argument that recognises the ‘necessity’ of this horror,” says Latin American History professor Hugo Pomposo, of the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires, who explains that this line of thought for justifying crimes and human rights abuses committed for historical ‘state interests’ is inexcusable, no matter how many years later.

Supporters of the genocide trial hope that with the initiation of case hearings those responsible for crimes committed in Guatemala in the name of ‘order and progress’ will be held accountable.

The Charges

Ríos Montt currently faces two separate genocide charges: the slaughter of 1,771 members of the Ixil population in Quiche between March 1982 and August 1983 and the displacement of nearly 30,000 others from the area, and an instance in Dos Erres in December 1982 in which 201 people were massacred. Both genocide charges also include allegations of ordered sexual violence and torture.

The ongoing trial solely regards the first set of charges, in which Ríos Montt is accused of approving and overseeing the completion of these acts and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, who served as chief of military intelligence under Ríos Montt, allegedly developed and implemented concrete military strategies to bring Ríos Montt’s vision to fruition -including hundreds of pages of documents that detailed secret killing missions.

High ranking military officers that served under Rodríguez Sánchez and Ríos Montt, like Oscar Mejia Victores and Héctor López Fuentes, are also implicated in the genocide cases, although charges have been suspended due to the health condition of the elderly defendants.

According to reports, the second genocide charge related to the Dos Erres is to be addressed in a later case.

The defence first aimed to block the genocide case from reaching the justice system altogether by using threats against those who brought about complaints, citing an outdated amnesty law, and taking advantage of Ríos Montt’s congressional immunity until last year.

After the case was finally brought to court, Ríos Montt’s lawyers have consistently asserted his innocence, as he never directly commanded soldiers to commit the crimes and never himself participated in the violence.

Case History

The Ríos Montt trial has a long and convoluted history outside of the hard to decipher crimes it seeks to confront.

A 1986 decree passed by Mejia Victores (who was president at the time and had served under Ríos Montt as defence minister, later overthrowing him in a coup) conveniently granted universal amnesty for those suspected of human rights violations and general war crimes between 1982 and 1986.

A cemetery in Rabinal, Guatemala where many victims of the Guatemalan civil war are buried. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Congress later deemed this move void in the 1996 National Reconciliation Laws, lifting the amnesty for perpetrators of crimes considered to be international human rights abuses. One year later, Congressional Decree 133-97 repealed all amnesty laws before 1996 (ie., Mejia Victores’ 1986 decree).

This amnesty law has been the key defence argument protecting Ríos Montt and Sánchez (as was Ríos Montt’s recently terminated protection under congressional immunity) and Guatemala’s Constitutional Court is still reviewing its applicability in the current trials.

After a group of Guatemalans brought the case to a court in Spain with international jurisdiction and no real developments resulted, in 2001 the Justice and Reconciliation Association joined with other Guatemalan members of civil society to file an official complaint with state authorities for investigations into the most heinous crimes of the 1980s. With this step, historical records started opening up to the public and charges of genocide and crimes against humanity developed for domestic hearings. Six years later, in 2007, Guatemala and the UN established an international body to oversee investigations and move prosecutions forward.

In 2009, nearly 50 years after the start of Guatemala’s civil war, trials began. Those in question were essentially the people on the ground while the human rights abuses were being committed: police officers, government soldiers, and paramilitary troops. Convictions were made in these initial proceedings, although the highest-ranking official prosecuted was a former police chief.

In a strange turn of events in 2011, Mejia Victores brought himself forward for investigations. However, months later his case was called off due to his deteriorating health. Similarly, Sánchez was arrested in that year pending genocide charges but was moved to a military hospital to await hearings.

Finally, on 26th January last year, a federal judge formally accused Ríos Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity, as the ex-dictator ended his congressional term and procedural immunity along with it.

Current Proceedings

In recent months, the genocide case has only become more complicated. On 28th January presiding Judge Miguel Angel Galvez declared that enough evidence had been presented for the trial of Ríos Montt and Sánchez to begin. A three-judge panel was set up to hear the case and 19th March chosen as the date for hearings to commence.

In February, Judge Galvez called for testimonials and evidence related to the case to be brought forward. He also opened previously classified state documents for investigation. During this time an article was added to the Guatemalan Criminal Procedural Code that allows for pertinent new evidence to be considered, even if presented after the beginning of the hearings, and allows for temporary trial suspensions under such circumstances to review new evidence.

Former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt. (Photo: Wikipedia)

In the weeks leading up to the trial, the state’s Constitutional Court released a mixed decision concerning the 1986 amnesty law: it rejected the defendants’ claims that the law could call off the prosecution completely but continued considering a separate assertion that the law be taken into account in the current proceedings.

On 19th March the trial began, and within the first several hours Ríos Montt’s attorney Francisco Garcí was expelled from the courtroom after the judicial panel interpreted his request for more time to study trial records as an unnecessary and strategic move to postpone the trial even further.  Ríos Montt went on to assert that in this way his rights to representation were denied from day one of the proceedings.

Two weeks later, the Constitutional Court altered the protocol related to the presentation of evidence, rejecting Judge Galvez’s habit of deeming defence evidence useless or excessive. On 17th April the Supreme Court called on the appellate court to clarify the 1986 amnesty law issue. The next day, Judge Carol Patricia Flores (who had initially charged Ríos Montt with genocide, was later removed via recusal and only recently reinstated) annulled the trial until a decision was made.

This decision to call off the trial, which was later reversed, is the most important recent development in the case and raised international outcry. According to news agency Democracy Now! the decision to suspend the trial was two-sided, as it apparently also coincided with political interests of the current government.

Investigative journalist Allan Narin was set to testify as a ‘qualified witness’ in front of the judicial panel in the coming days, with first-hand evidence he gathered during the civil war years that reportedly implicated the current Guatemalan president, General (Ret.) Otto Pérez Molina, when authorities froze the case. Pérez Molina served as a military officer under Ríos Montt and represented the armed forces in the peace negotiations of the 1990s.

During the critical days when the international community was unsure of whether the trial would carry on at all, Sebastián Elgueta, researcher on Guatemala at Amnesty International said: “The consequences of this decision may set back the clock in Guatemala to a time when impunity was the norm for those types of crimes.”

The trial court, however, met briefly following the Flores move and decided that she had no authority to annul the trial. It did, however, decide to freeze hearings pending Constitutional Court approval, which came on 22nd April.

On the last day in April the court convened after a recess and Ríos Montt appeared before the judges with new representation, although the case was again halted after only two days so Sánchez’s public defender (also new to the trials) could prepare.

In the last few days, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court responded to several defence appeals and is still considering the amnesty question. On 2nd and 3rd May it announced that case judges could not decide which kinds of evidence to recognise and rejected Ríos Montt’s claims that he was denied proper representation at the start of the hearings.

The court was originally set to reopen proceedings yesterday. However, the Court of Appeals suspended hearings in an announcement late Monday night after it reviewed Ríos Montt’s complaints over his allegedly compromised representation and reinstated defence attorney Fracisco García. After receiving the news of García’s reinstallation, the court was allotted 24 hours to make a decision on how to proceed with the case. It should announce a plan for future proceedings today.

For supporters of the trial, it is hoped that proceedings will restart with momentum and that the court will make some ground before more complications spring up.

Protesters hold banners against Ríos Montt in Guatemala City, 2006 (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Implications

Ríos Montt’s trial has various potential implications. It represents a monumental step in the search for justice for the people of Guatemala and introduces what could be a groundbreaking initiative for tackling perpetrators of mass crimes on a national level.

According to Pomposo, “the case is a very significant advance against the impunity for the military dictators in all of Latin America, and of course also for Guatemala, which has suffered one of the most brutal military dictatorships of the ’70s and ’80s.”

Assuming that the trial is properly carried out to completion, the verdicts will undoubtedly carry historical significance and could set a precedent for future genocide cases. Furthermore, contextualised in a region where other figures like Ríos Montt appeared during the years of Cold War terror -many like Ríos Montt allegedly backed by the CIA and the School of the Americas- the Guatemalan case could also have international implications.

Pomposo adds that “it is undoubtedly true” that the Guatemala case, particularly with the charge of a former head of state with genocide, could be held as precedent in other Latin American countries where there exist historical “violations of human rights instrumented by innumerable military interventions that have come about by coup d’états often brought about in cooperation with the US.”

Although individuals responsible for war crimes and genocide are nearly impossible to pinpoint, and undoubtedly involve several if not thousands of accomplices, the Guatemala case marks one step forward in bringing about justice for victims of these atrocious crimes committed decades ago. The coming hearings (and the obstacles they may face) will reveal whether or not trying Ríos Montt and Sánchez for genocide is the way justice will be served.

Update: Ríos Montt was found guilty of genocide on 10th May, whilst Rodríguez Sánchez was acquitted. More information here.

For information about the case documented through personal stories, check out the ‘Granito: How to Nail a Dictator’ videos: http://granitofilm.com/granito/antonio

Former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The trial of former Guatemalan dictator, Efraín Ríos Montt, for genocide faces further delays after the Court of Appeals ruled to temporarily suspend the process while the judges presiding over the case review and resolve challenges made by the defence lawyers dating back to the start of the trial, on 19th March.

On that day, Ríos Montt’s lawyer, Francisco García Gudiel, was dismissed by Judge Jazmín Barrios for attempting to delay the trial process. After an appeal, García Gudiel was later reinstated after it was decided that the trial court had violated the former dictator’s right to a defence.

Yesterday’s ruling by the Court of Appeals confirmed the reinstatement of García Gudiel, while ordering the court to consider the other defence request that judges Barrios and Pablo Xitumul be disqualified from the case. However, it rejected another request to annul the trial altogether.

The court was given 24 hours from the time of receiving the notification to define how the trial would proceed.

The trial was due to resume this morning at 7am having been suspended since 19^th April due to appeals by the defence team. A previous Constitutional Court ruling permitted the trial to resume last week.

Many have already testified against Ríos Montt, yet the trial’s progress has been slow due to the various legal challenges put forth by the defence.

Héctor Reyes, lawyer of the victims, said, “Although the defence is using delaying strategies the trial is set to resume.”

Accounts by more than 100 prosecution witnesses of massacres and other atrocities have been heard since the start of the trial. Forensic, military, and anthropological experts have also made presentations. Ríos Montt is accused of crimes against humanity including the systematic massacre of Guatemala’s indigenous population during the country’s civil war between 1981 and 1983.

Mining Land in Chinautla, Guatemala (Photo courtesy The Presbyterian Church of Wales on Flickr)

Guatemala hosted the Second Meeting of the Mesoamerican Movement against the Extractive Mining Model M4 to develop strategies to defend human rights and the environment in the affected communities.

The meeting was held in Aguacatan, in the state of Huehuetenango, from 10th April to 14th April.

The topics covered in this meeting were cases such as demands made by Canadian company Pacific Rim of the El Salvador government, the new mining law in Honduras, and the mobilisations in Nicaragua against mining concessions.

The meeting’s constituents also discussed the alleged legal persecution of the company Infinito in Crucitas, Costa Rica, the violation of human rights in the Panamanian town of Ngobe Buglé, as well as the popular resistance in Mexico.

Finally, in accordance with these meetings, it was decided to review the legal framework of each of the country regarding the access of transnational mining companies to local resources.

During the meeting, in the Guatemalan state of Santa Rosa, there were 30 people detained and dozens of people injured after a protest by members of the community demanding the withdrawal of a mining company.

Story courtesy of Pulsar.

Former President
Efrain Rios Montt (Photo: Wikiguate)

The trial against former Guatemalan dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt will begin today, where he faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Rios Montt has previously avoided prosecution for the significant evidence linking him to the death of over 1,700 indigenous people during his 1982-1983 leadership.

After being postponed indefinitely this January, the trial represents the first time Guatemala has prosecuted a former head of state for such crimes in a national court.

The former dictator is being tried for the atrocities committed during his presidency, which occurred during the country’s period of civil war from 1960-1996. An estimated 200,000 civilians were killed, most of Mayan descent, and a further 45,000 ‘disappeared’ during the country’s 36-year period of conflict.

The 1,700 indigenous people were killed in a counter-insurgency plan executed under Rios Montt’s command, with prosecutors alleging that he continually ignored the rape, torture, and arson committed by soldiers. Such war crimes were targeted towards leftist insurgents and the indigenous Mayan people of Guatemala.

Rios Montt had previously been protected from prosecution by a law that granted immunity to officials, a government immunity that ended when his term as congressman finished in 2012. The former dictator was subsequently charged with war crimes in January 2012. However, his defence team stalled the judicial process with a series of appeals insisting he did not control war operations and denying the genocide in Guatemala.

The 1996 United Nations backed truth commission was significant in shedding light onto the magnitude of the war crimes committed during the civil war, and discovered that the army and paramilitary groups were responsible for over 90% of the murders carried out.

Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz said the trial is “historic…we cannot leave thousands of deaths unpunished. We must deliver justice to the victims.”

The significance of the commencement of the trial was echoed by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, who said, “until quite recently, no one believed a trial like this could possibly take place in Guatemala, and the fact that it is happening there should give encouragement to victims of human rights violations all over the world.”

Rios Montt has been under house arrest for the past year, and the trial is expected to last months. The prosecutors will present hundreds of testimonies, videos, and documents to a three-judge panel who will debate the evidence, and subsequently set a day for the sentencing or exoneration of Rios Montt.

The trial against Guatemalan ex-dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt and former general of the Army Jose Mauricio Rodriguez for crimes against humanity has been postponed.

Court officials announced Thursday that the start of the criminal trials against the former dictator and former general for genocide war crimes has been postponed indefinitely.

One of Rios Montt’s lawyers, Franciso Palomo, told the media, “we are preparing an appeal against the ruling on Monday by Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez, which ordered the start of the trial against former military”.

Palomo said the legal action will be presented to the Supreme Court of Justice and aims to stop the beginning of the public trial which accuses Rios Montt and Rodriguez for the massacre of thousands of indigenous people between March 1982 and August 1983.

“We insist that he (Rios Montt) did not order any slaughter,” Palomo said. “So we believe that there is not much to debate”.

The judge ordered the parties to appear before court on Friday to present exculpatory evidence. The Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) and the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights (CALDH) issued a statement in which they explained that “for the first time in our country there could be open proceedings for genocide and crimes against humanity”.

This would be the first case in which a former head of state is charged with thousands of murders committed by the Guatemalan army during the civil war that lasted 36 years.

There have been convictions of low-ranking military and police for human rights violations that occurred during the armed conflict.

Under the regime of General Rios Montt, who came into power after leading a coup in 1982, the Army implemented the so-called policy of “scorched earth” on indigenous populations to those accused of collaborating with guerrillas during the Cold War.

Oxfam-affiliated association “Vamos al Grano” launched an international campaign Tuesday urging Guatemalan president Otto Pérez Molina to return land taken from rural families in Alta Verapaz nearly two years ago.

In March of 2011, 760 rural families were violently evacuated from their land in the north of Guatemala at the request of the land’s owner, sugar factory Chabil Utzaj, resulting in two deaths. Supporters of the farmers say they had settled on that property due to a shortage of land for production.

“Land continues to be the main cause of misery, hunger and injustice in Guatemala,” said Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú, expressing support for the Vamos al Grano campaign.

The initiative includes 25 Guatemalan associations and groups, including the International NGO Forum in Guatemala (FONGI), Campaign for a Hunger-Free Guatemala, and the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organisations (CLOC).

This support comes as part of Oxfam’s campaign CRECE, which according to their website fights against the fact “that thousands of people go to bed hungry at night, not because there isn’t enough food, but because of deep-rooted and systematic injustice.”

Oxfam is also encouraging the World Bank to halt large land transactions and establish legal mechanisms that are fairer to small farmers.