Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Guatemala: UN adviser calls on judges to ensure accountability for atrocities
UN - 23 April 2013 – A senior United Nations official today urged judicial authorities in Guatemala to ensure that legal proceedings continue without interference against the country’s former head of State and former head of intelligence who stand accused of atrocities committed in the Central American nation over 30 years ago.
“I appeal to the judicial authorities to act responsibly and prevent any attempt at interference, obstruction of justice or manipulation of the law, which would seriously undermine the credibility of the judicial system in Guatemala,” Adama Dieng, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, said in a news release.
Guatemala’s former president Efraín Ríos Montt and former intelligence chief José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez stand accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity for their roles in Guatemala’s civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996 and during which a reported 200,000 people were killed or disappeared.
Despite the charges, on 18 April a first-instance judge called for the annulment of the trial, a decision deemed illegal by the panel of judges overseeing the proceedings. The trial has since been suspended until the country’s constitutional court determines whether it can continue.
“The victims of the atrocities committed during the civil war in Guatemala and their families have waited many years for justice; I hope that they will not have to continue to wait,” continued Mr. Dieng while voicing his concern that “justice delayed is justice denied.”
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