Top court sends Rios Montt trial to new judge [View all]
Top court sends Rios Montt trial to new judge
By SONIA PEREZ DIAZ, Associated Press | April 24, 2013 | Updated: April 24, 2013 12:19am
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's highest court on Tuesday ordered that the genocide trial against one of the Central American country's former dictators be taken over by a judge who wants the proceedings to go back to square one.
A spokesman for the Constitutional Court, Martin Guzman, said the case of Efrain Rios Montt now goes back to Judge Carol Patricia Flores, who last week ordered that the proceedings start over at a point before the retired general was charged with genocide.
Rios Montt, 86, is accused of responsibility for the deaths of 1,771 Mayan Indians killed during military offensives by the dictatorship that he headed from March 1982 to August 1983. The operations, during a U.S.-backed war against leftist guerrillas, were part of a "scorched earth" campaign aimed at wiping out support for the rebels.
The trial against Rios Montt and Jose Rodriguez Sanchez, 68, a former high-ranking member of the military chiefs of staff, had been nearing closing arguments last week when Flores intervened.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Top-court-sends-Rios-Montt-trial-to-new-judge-4458494.php
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