UN Criticises Delay In Guatemala Genocide Trial Against Former Dictator Montt
UN Criticises Delay In Guatemala Genocide Trial Against Former Dictator Montt
GUATEMALA CITY, March 27 (BERNAMA-NNN-AGENCIES)-- The Representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala, Alberto Brunori, has criticized ongoing delay in the genocide trial of former military dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt.
"The High Commissioner re-iterates that the obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish serious violations of human rights and crimes against humanity is a mandatory standard," said Brunori, presenting the UN's 2014 report on the issue.
Montt was sentenced in 2013 to 80 years in prison for genocide, but the Guatemalan Constitutional Court immediately overturned the verdict, citing procedural errors, triggering a re-trial, and suspended proceedings to resolve some legal challenges raised by the defense.
Montt and his former director of military intelligence, Jose Rodriguez, are accused by the Guatemalan Attorney-General of the murders of 1,771 indigenous Ixile people in north Quiche while Montt was ruling the country.
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