Will Col. Inocente Orlando Montano face criminal trial? (El Salvador death squad priest killer)
20 August 2013 Last updated at 19:08 ET
Will Col Inocente Orlando Montano face criminal trial?
By Nina Lakhani
San Vicente, El Salvador
Coffins of the murdered priests; and Gen Montano in 1989 and as he is today Mourners at the
coffins of the murdered priests in 1989; and Col Montano then and now
The commander of one of El Salvador's notorious death squads, active during the 1979-92 civil war, could soon become the first top-ranking Salvadoran officer to face trial for murder. But if so, he will be tried in Spain, not his own country, where an amnesty protects even those guilty of atrocities against civilians.
Inocente Orlando Montano was quietly working in a sweet factory in Massachusetts in May 2011, when he and 19 others were indicted by a Spanish court for their alleged role in the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, along with their housekeeper and her teenage daughter.
Five of the priests - outspoken critics of El Salvador's military and suspected of being sympathisers of left-wing rebels - were Spanish. Spain asked for Montano to be extradited - and soon afterwards he was indicted by the US for having lied about his entry date and military past to obtain papers giving him the right to work in the US.
He pleaded guilty in September last year to six counts of immigration fraud and perjury and will be sentenced on Monday.
As vice-minister of public security, Colonel Montano had been one of El Salvador's top three military leaders. He was also commander of the feared Belloso Battalion.
More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23767997
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