On May 20, almost one month ago, the news that Guatemala’s highest court partially annulled the judgment and trial in the case of Efrain Rios Montt, essentially on a technicality, shook Guatemala and the international community. The Constitutional Court issued its resolution only three days after the trial court had issued its extensively detailed judgment ... Continue reading
Jo-Marie Burt and Geoff Thale, The Guatemala Genocide Case: Using the Legal System to Defeat Justice
With Ríos Montt Trial Partially Annulled, Justice and Rule of Law Hang in the Balance This article was first published on June 5, 2013 on the website of the Washington Office on Latin America. On May 10, 2013, after 30 years of state-sanctioned impunity, the victims of army violence in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war saw ... Continue reading
This piece was contributed by Ashley Miller, research assistant, and Ted Piccone, senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies, at the Brookings Institution. The recent conclusion of the genocide trial against the former de facto leader of Guatemala, General José Efraín Ríos Montt, and the subsequent overturning of his conviction raises significant and enormously challenging questions ... Continue reading
Statement: Legal Stalemate over Guatemala’s Rios Montt Genocide Trial Threatens Victims’ Rights
The Open Society Justice Initiative is deeply concerned about the continuing legal stalemate in Guatemala over the prosecution of the country’s former military leader, José Efrain Rios Montt, for genocide and crimes against humanity. Following the 3-2 decision of Guatemala’s Constitutional Court on May 20 to overturn a guilty verdict in the case, and to ... Continue reading
In a tense political climate, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court last week overturned the historic conviction of former Guatemalan strongman Efrain Rios Montt, who ruled Guatemala for 17 months in what Guatemala’s truth commission recognized as the most brutal period of Guatemala’s 36-year internal armed conflict. Now the Constitutional Court has resuscitated long-dormant defense claims that a ... Continue reading
One week after the Constitutional Court overturned the then days-old conviction of Guatemala’s former de facto president Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity, the status and future prospects of this historic case remain uncertain. This was the first conviction of a head of state for genocide in a domestic court, with prosecutors, ... Continue reading
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court Overturns Rios Montt Conviction and Sends Trial Back to April 19
Only ten days after a trial court issued its historic verdict convicting Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentencing him to prison for 80 years, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court, in a 3-2 ruling, overturned the verdict and set the trial back to where it was April 19. This verdict had been the ... Continue reading
Little fanfare accompanied the trial court’s release of its 718 page full reasoned judgment on May 17, 2013, one week after the court convicted former de facto head of state Ríos Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 80 years in prison. The trial court simply notified the parties to pick up a copy of the ... Continue reading
Constitutional Court apparently divided on whether Rios Montt’s conviction for genocide should stand
Less than one week after the trial court’s conviction of former de facto head of state Efrain Rios Montt, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has been reviewing challenges to the trial—challenges which the Court’s General Secretary has asserted could lead to an annulment of the trial or the dismissal of some or all of the three trial ... Continue reading
Constitutional Court delays the release of Judgments
The Secretary General of the Constitutional Court just announced that the Court will delay the release of judgments until Monday.