Spain high court upholds conviction of Salvadoran colonel in Jesuit murders
Feb 5, 2021
by Catholic News Service
Former Salvadoran Col. Inocente Montano was sentenced to more than 133 years in prison for his involvement in the slaying of five Spanish Jesuits in El Salvador in 1989. Spain's supreme court has upheld the sentence. (CNS photo/Reuters/DPA/TNS/ABACAPRESS.COM)
MADRID — Spain's supreme court has upheld the conviction of a former Salvadoran colonel for the slayings of five Spanish Jesuits during El Salvador's civil war.
In a Feb. 3 ruling, the court discarded arguments from lawyers for Inocente Montano, 78. The lawyers had argued that Spanish justice lacked jurisdiction for the slayings, which occurred in 1989 on the campus of the Jesuit-run Central American University in San Salvador.
The court called the slayings "a state crime" and upheld Montano's sentence of 26 years, eight months and one day for each person killed — 133 years in total — to be served in Spain.
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The aging Montano had told the court he harbored no ill will toward the Jesuits. But witnesses said the army carried out a campaign of hostilities toward the Society of Jesus and considered the Central American University to be a hotbed of rebel activity.
More:
https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/spain-high-court-upholds-conviction-salvadoran-colonel-jesuit-murders
A garden was planted where the death squad executed the victims.
