WUNRN
Guatemala - Will Mayan Women Victims
of Genocide Sexual Violence Have Justice??
GUATEMALA - GENOCIDE TRIAL ENDS
ABRUPTLY - RISK OF IMPUNITY
For the
prosecution the timing could not have been worse. The judge, who had heard
weeks of harrowing testimony by Mayan Indians describing massacres, rapes and
mutilations by soldiers during General Ríos Montt’s rule in 1982 and 1983, was
suspended from the case on a technicality on April 23rd, just as the trial
should have been ending. The decision may mean that the trial has to start
again, in effect annulling what has been achieved so far.
The
setback coincided with what was expected to be the trial’s most sensitive
stage: the alleged intention to commit genocide. After presenting evidence that
atrocities were committed, the prosecution intended to prove that there was a
strategy by the ex-dictator and his co-defendant, former intelligence chief
José Rodríguez Sánchez, to destroy the Ixil ethnic group. The defence argued
that the generals did not direct specific military operations. About 200,000
people died during the 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996.
As
it neared its climax the case ran into political interference. From President
Otto Pérez down, prominent figures appeared to second-guess the judge, arguing
that there were no grounds for genocide charges. Guatemala’s elite grew twitchy
about the prospect of the country being put in the same bracket as Serbia and
Rwanda. Human-rights groups struck back, warning that anything short of a
genocide conviction would be proof of impunity.
Supporters
of the genocide charges consider it a feather in Guatemala’s cap that General
Ríos Montt is the first ex-leader in the world to be charged with genocide in
his own country. They argue that a conviction is the only way to achieve
justice for at least 1,771 Ixils, including children, killed during his rule.
Their opponents say that boiling the conflict down to ethnic cleansing ignores
the fact that it was a guerrilla war, and plays down the cold-war context of
the 1980s, when the United States backed right-wing militias against communist
insurgents. They say a victory for the prosecution could cause a stampede of
genocide accusations from other Mayan groups, “Balkanising” a country where the
population is 40% indigenous.
Yet
even some of those who object to the genocide charges have been horrified by
the latest shenanigans. Since 2006, seven years after a UN-backed truth
commission found that genocide had taken place, General Ríos Montt’s defence
has filed numerous injunctions to halt the proceedings. The strategy paid off
when the Constitutional Court removed the trial judge for failing to allow a
piece of defence evidence. It reinstated a first-instance judge, who wants to
set the case back 17 months. “That would be disastrous,” says Eduardo Stein, a
former vice-president who opposes the genocide accusation. Turning the clock
back so far could discredit the justice system, he says.
Adding
to the murkiness is a presidential cameo by Mr Pérez. In the trial’s early
stages, a witness accused him of taking part in the atrocities when he was an
officer under General Ríos Montt. He denies this. But when he publicly opposed
the genocide charges, some said it looked as if he was protecting his own back.
Annulment of the trial may only make it harder for him to shed that impression.
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Women's Link Worldwide - Earlier Posting with Hope for
Gender Justice in Guatemala- http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8416da9df57d4044c795f3fcb&id=b9648a0ffc&e=5588859854
Dear
Women’s Link friends and Supporters,
History is being made in Guatemala. For the first time ever, a dictator is being tried in his own
country for crimes of genocide and war. This is a huge step
forward for justice, and Women’s Link is making sure that women are taking
part.
From 1982 to 1983 General Ríos Montt carried out a campaign of genocide with
the aim of destroying the Mayan population. In Guatemala, as in all wars and
conflicts that have occurred throughout history, sexual violence and rape against women
and girls were core tactics for destroying and terrorizing the
Mayan people.
In December we told you how Women’s Link is working with Mayan women to end the
silence about the systemic crimes committed against them during the Guatemalan
genocide. We are now excited to share that just last week, Women’s Link Senior
Attorney Paloma Soria took the stand as an expert witness on gender and
international human rights, in order to testify about the ways in which women
and girls were targeted by the military. When she took the stand, dozens of
survivors were present as their stories and the atrocities they lived were
finally brought forth as international crimes; no longer seen as
"collateral damage."
We look forward to reporting back to you as the trials progress in this historic moment for women’s rights and
for justice.
Thank you so much for making this important and historic work possible, and for
your partnership with Women’s Link as we fight for justice and the rights of
women worldwide.
Viviana Waisman - Women's Link
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