Attempts to Interfere with High Profile Trial in Guatemala
Attempts to Interfere with High Profile Trial in Guatemala
By Larry Ladutke
July 5, 2016 at 10:23 AM
—Rosario Godoy de Cuevas speaks into a megaphone at a demonstration at a GAM in Guatemala, 1985. Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM; Mutual Support Group) support group for families whose relatives had “disappeared”.
Amnesty International has issued an Urgent Action in response to the June 21 raid of Impunity Watch’s office in Guatemala. Three armed men forced their way into the office and then blindfolded the organization’s secretary and covered her mouth with duct tape before ransacking the files.
The Dutch NGO has been assisting the family of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen, the victim of an enforced disappearance in 1981. It’s offices were raided two days before the scheduled start of a trial against four high-ranking retired military officers for this crime.
Marco Antonio was abducted by soldiers searching for his sister, Emma, who had recently escaped from a military base where she had been held and tortured. She had been previously arrested, tortured, and raped in 1976.
The defendants have been accused of involvement in organized crime and drug trafficking. One of the retired officers was involved in the military coup the brought José Efraín Ríos Montt to power in 1982. Some of the worst human rights violations during the Guatemalan civil war took place during his rule.
More:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/uncategorized/attempts-to-interfere-with-high-profile-trial-in-guatemala/
Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016163013
