Guatemala court annuls Rios Montt genocide conviction. Rios Montt Freed. Impunity Reigns

[Catherina]

Suspenden sentencia por genocidio a Ríos Montt
Foto archivo

Caracas, 20 May. AVN.- La Corte de Constitucionalidad de Guatemala anuló este lunes la sentencia por genocidio y crímenes de guerra contra el exdictador José Efrían Ríos Montt, y ordenó celebrar un nuevo juicio.

http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/suspenden-sentencia-genocidio-r%C3%ADos-montt

Just as expected

Xeni Jardin ?@xeni

Guatemala: Genocide trial process goes back to April 19, before conclusion phase. Sentence is thrown out. Rios Montt free.

Rios Montt sentence has just been thrown out by Constitutional Court. Impunity reigns.

Guatemala court annuls Rios Montt genocide conviction

GUATEMALA CITY | Mon May 20, 2013 10:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - Guatemala's constitutional court on Monday overturned a genocide conviction against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, throwing out all proceedings in his case since a dispute broke out last month over who should hear it.

...

But the constitutional court said it had thrown out all proceedings in the case dating back until April 19. It was then that the trial against Rios Montt was suspended after a spat between judges over who should take the case.

(Reporting by Mike McDonald; Editing by Dave Graham)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-guatemala-riosmontt-idUSBRE94K04I20130521

[Starry Messenger]

1. Un-fucking-real. :(

[Warren Stupidity]

2. No the problem is a fake tp shortage in Venezuela. Nt.

[mitchtv]

3. disgusting

a contract is warranted

[naaman fletcher]

4. wtf????? nt

[Catherina]

5. Is the US check still on the way?

NISGUA ?@NISGUA_Guate 55m

Today confirms what we already knew: Guatemala still has a long road ahead in the struggle against impunity. #GenocideGT

Xeni Jardin ?@xeni 44m

President Obama has promised military and financial aid to Guatemala's security forces. How we can not stop that check now, I don't know.

And just to be very clear. He spent one day, NO, a FEW hours in prison.

His lawyers immediately filed an appeal and he spent only one day in prison before he was moved to a military hospital, where he remains.

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_306488/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=VxzppZVn

I'm sure he's feeling MUCH better now. Hypertension gone, prostrate functioning, spine all dandy and warts gone.

[Bacchus4.0]

11. what check? You claimed the US was going to resume military aid if Rios Montt

was convicted.

[Catherina]

6. Pissed off. About 50 people just walked past my place with drums and candles and a banner

that read "Today they sent more farmers from Jalapa to prison for defending their land against the mines...
Today they released the butcher of hundreds of thousands. Where is the justice?"

[Judi Lynn]

12. They've got a point, goddamit. Where is the justice, is right.

Sounds as if the oligarchy plans to give the new Honduran criminal oligarchy a real bit of competition.

So they're getting busy cracking down upon the people they are murdering for defending their land against the mega-criminal mining companies.

Evil in the light of day.

[Catherina]

14. Yeah they do

They're royally and rightfully pissed off. It wasn't easy to convince some witnesses to come forward because every one know how high the *accidental* murder rate is for people who piss off the powerful or get in the way of their profits. The soldiers who had the *nerve* to testify and mention a protected name are dead men walking. A desperate call went out last night to find safe places for some of the witnesses. Pissed isn't even the word to describe how many people are feeling right now.

[Catherina]

7. "The judges gave in to pressure from the powers that be"

José Elías Guatemala 21 MAY 2013 - 05:27

...

The judges gave in to pressure from the powers that be, this time represented by the Association of Military Veterans Guatemala (AVEMILGUA), which threatened to mobilize up to 50,000 shadowy paramilitary civil patrols (CAP) and the powerful business class , bonded together in the Coordinating Committee for Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural and Financial Businesses (Cacif).

Powerful ones that, this time, played their cards in the daylight. First, the Association of Military Veterans Guatemala (AVEMILGUA), threatened to march on the capital and paralyze the country by blocking the main roads to secure the release of the old caudillo.

For their part, the business class responded with a statement condemning the trial in paid ads, broadcast by radio and television, which rejected, absolutely, the existence of genocide in Guatemala.

The military reaction was absolutely predictable; until the restoration of democracy in 1985, they were trained with a discipline of blind obedience, so characteristic of armies used to interventions -Guatemala's history is riddled with coups- and they were never accountable to anyone. The court's ruling can only be explained using the words of the historian Joseph Cal, "because traditionally the Army has been serving big business". Its whole comportment is evidence that the repression was financed, as always, by the business community.

...

http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/05/21/actualidad/1369101633_290958.html

Good article. Other keen observations such as the quote from the President of a Human Rights group here that they only confirmed what everyone already fears, that ""Impunity remains the only law that prevails in Guatemala".

This was printed in a Madrid paper. Guatemala's journalists are safely sticking to just the facts right now.

[Catherina]

8. The vote was 3-2. Will there be a new trial or is Rios Montt a free man? Not sure...

Three Constitutional Court judges voted in favor of the annulment. Two voted against. The court today also upheld the not-guilty verdict in the case of Rios Montt's former head of intelligence (the director of the notorious G-2 unit), José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez.

The language of the Constitutional Court's ruling states that the phase of the trial in which victim testimony was delivered is still intact. But it's possible that this effectively means the whole trial is annulled, and that there must be a new trial, or that there is no possibility of a guilty verdict. Reporters and international observers I've spoken to aren't exactly sure what is next, as far as whether a trial on the same charges will in fact be re-convened and repeated, or whether Rios Montt, 86, is now guaranteed to be a free man for the rest of his life. The full text of the Constitutional Court's ruling will be available soon, and I'll post more after speaking with people who are still in Guatemala who have a copy of the court documents.

Bottom line: Ríos Montt is a free man tonight. The overturning of the historic guilty verdict in this trial is a huge, though not unexpected blow, to justice.

It is an unimaginable blow to each of the Ixil Maya victims, and others, who suffered abuses during the US-backed military dictator's 17-month reign.

...

http://boingboing.net/2013/05/20/guatemala-nations-highest-c.html

[Catherina]

9. the military has historically been at the service of big capital. Business leaders deny that

Guatemala's Business Community Closes Ranks Around ex-Dictator Rios Montt

...

In an announcement released today payment in different local media, the business class is concerned about "the grave errors in due process" observed throughout the entire trial, "which has been evident in the various unfulfilled procedures, the way a legitimate defense, the principle of innocence and non-retroactivity of law were violated, and public disobedience to court orders issued by other courts."

The business community, which declared itself in permanent session from noon on Sunday 12, "to analyze the scope of the sentence" demanded that the Constitutional Court "contribute to ensure effective governance and rule of law" while "regretting the intrusion and pressure exerted by foreign individuals and organizations into the Guatemalan judicial process. "

This united attitude is not surprising. What was surprising was the part of the sentence that said "the extermination of the Ixil was implemented as a way of defending the interests of national elites". This, in a country where the military has historically been at the service of big capital. Business leaders reject that thesis.

http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/05/13/actualidad/1368464680_780035.html?rel=rosEP

[ocpagu]

10. I simply can't believe this.

That's horrible, shameful, absurd. Really, really bad.

[Judi Lynn]

13. It was a shock to learn this. You've got to admit, it's brazen enough.

They just must feel they can by god get away with it, and find some support from a powerful ally to prevent having to back away from it.

It makes your heart sink. Makes you sick. It IS a crime if they get by with this.

It's so hard to live with this development while living in another country. Don't see what's keeping the citizens from going wacko. Self-preservation, presumably!

Unbearable, there's going to have to be a better resolution than this, and I hope the GOOD people will find a way to stay safe, but it's probably not possible.

Stunned.

[Catherina]

15. Some details from the court

...

At least for now, the Constitutional Court ordered that the same trial court – Presiding Judge Yassmin Barrios and her associates Pablo Xitumul and Patricia Bustamante – reconvene to consider the case. It gave the tribunal 24 hours to comply “exactly” with these orders or risk dismissal from their posts and the possibility of civil or criminal sanction. In its judgment, the Constitutional Court did not acknowledge explicitly that the trial had already completed, concluding with a conviction.

The decision stemmed from a constitutional challenge (amparo) raised by Rios Montt’s defense attorneys at the very end of the trial. In response to an earlier challenge, both the Constitutional Court and a Guatemalan appeals court ordered the trial court to remedy a due process violation from the opening day of the trial—the expulsion of Rios Montt’s newly-appointed defense attorney on the middle of that first day, leaving him represented only by the attorney for his co-accused for several hours, until his prior defense attorneys returned to his side on the morning of the second day. (See below for more information.)

In the challenge at issue in Monday’s Constitutional Court judgment overturning the verdict, Rios Montt asserted that the trial court had not in fact complied with the orders of the appeals court concerning this due process violation, even though the appeals court had recognized the trial court as having fully complied, in a judgment issued by the appeals court just the day before the release of the verdict. (Rios Montt’s challenge was, in effect, a challenge to the appeals court’s finding that the trial court implemented fully the appellate court’s order.)

Media sources reported last week that the Constitutional Court was delayed in issuing its ruling because of division among the judges of the court. That division was evident in the judgment released on Monday. Three of five judges – Hector Perez Aguilera (the President of the Court), Alejandro Maldonado and Roberto Molina – supported the ruling, while Judges Mauricio Chacon and Gloria Patricia Porras filed strong dissenting opinions.

Judge Chacon, in his dissent, affirmed that there was nothing that rose to a level of a constitutional violation that should be dealt with in this extraordinary way, through an amparo; criticized the Constitutional Court’s remedy as disproportionate, particularly as the trial court already issued a sentence; and objected to the actions of Rios Montt’s defense attorney as intentionally obstructionist. He regretted that the Constitutional Court now rewarded these obstructionist efforts with an annulment of the verdict, with the Constitutional Court blaming the trial court judges when their actions “did not invoke anything that suggested a lack of impartiality.” (“…no invoco nada a cerca de la falta de imparcialidad de los integrantes de dicho tribunal.”) Judge Chacon also identified the decision of the Constitutional Court as detrimental to judicial certainty in Guatemala

Judge Porras, for her part, criticized the majority’s decision for “leaving the victims’ constitutional right of access to justice unprotected.” (“…el Tribunal Constitucional, al resolver sobre la anulación y suspensión de las actuaciones del Tribunal de Sentencia, está dejando desprotegidas a las víctimas de su derecho constitucional de acceso a la justicia.”)

Guatemalan lawyers have described the appropriate mechanisms for a challenge to the verdict as through a “special appeals” process (la apelacion especial, described in Articles 415-22 of the Guatemalan Criminal Procedural Code) available within the ten days following the issuance of the trial court’s final judgment. The ten-day window for Rios Montt’s appeal thus began on Friday. Because of this, some have contested that the Constitutional Court did not have jurisdiction to rule here, prior to the filing of a “special appeal” and the release of a judgment from the appellate court.

...

During the past week, with the Constitutional Court asserting that it was on the verge of issuing rulings which could annul the verdict, there was tension in Guatemala related to the trial; forceful and repeated calls from CACIF, Guatemala’s powerful business association, for the verdict to be overturned; and explicit threats made by Rios Montt’s lawyer of national paralysis if the Constitutional Court did not rule in Rios Montt’s favor, as well as bomb threats at the Constitutional Court and other government offices.

...


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More at the link: http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/2013/05/constitutional-court-overturns-rios-montt-conviction-and-sends-trial-back-to-april-19/

[Catherina]

16. Reuters: Guatemala's top court annuls Rios Montt genocide conviction

Guatemala's top court annuls Rios Montt genocide conviction

...

However, in a ruling on Monday, the country's Constitutional Court ordered that all the proceedings be voided going back to April 19, when one of the presiding judges suspended the trial because of a dispute with another judge over who should hear it.

It was unclear when the trial might restart.

Rios Montt's conviction was hailed as a landmark for justice in the Central American nation, where as many as 250,000 people were killed in a bloody civil war lasting from 1960 to 1996.

...

Ana Caba, an ethnic Ixil who survived the civil war after fleeing her home, was stunned by the Constitutional Court's decision.

"I'm distressed," she told Reuters. "I don't know what's happening. That's how this country is. The powerful people do what they want and we poor and indigenous are devalued. We don't get justice. Justice means nothing for us."

...

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/21/18402978-guatemalas-top-court-annuls-rios-montt-genocide-conviction?lite

[Eugene]

17. Guatemala trial of Rios Montt has likely collapsed: lawyers

Source: Reuters

Guatemala trial of Rios Montt has likely collapsed: lawyers

By Mike McDonald
GUATEMALA CITY | Tue May 21, 2013 9:20pm EDT

(Reuters) - The trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has likely collapsed after the country's top court struck down his conviction for genocide, defense and prosecution lawyers said on Tuesday.

Rios Montt was sentenced on May 10 to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity, a conviction hailed as a landmark for justice in the Central American nation where as many as 250,000 people were killed in a 1960-1996 civil war.

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Guatemala's Constitutional Court ordered on Monday that proceedings be voided back to April 19, when a jurisdictional dispute broke out between judges and several appeals were lodged with the court over alleged irregularities in the case.

If the court process is written off, the retired general would have to be tried by a new set of judges. The case is now mired in a tangle of red tape.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/22/us-guatemala-riosmontt-idUSBRE94L01N20130522