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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Guatemala: Historic Ruling in Bishop Gerardi Case |
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by Latin America Working Group
(No verified email address) |
16 Jun 2001
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This is a follow-up to an earlier story on the end of this trial:
http://urbana.indymedia.org/active/news/display.php3?article_id=1158
For further info on the background of the US relationship with Guatemala, see
http://www.newspoetry.com/1999/991226.html |
In a landmark decision, Guatemalan courts convicted three military officers and a priest for the killing of Catholic Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi. The June 10th decision sentenced Col. Disrael Lima, Captain Byron Lima and Sergeant Obdulio Villanueva to 30 years in prison, while Gerardi’s assistant, Father Mario Orantes, received 20 years for participating in a cover-up. Col. Disrael Lima Estrada, a former chief of military intelligence, was accused by the prosecutors of masterminding the killing to keep the bishop from testifying against the military in future trials. Bishop Gerardi was killed April 26, 1998, two days after he presented the Archbishop’s Office for Human Rights report on the violence committed during Guatemala’s thirty-six year civil war, the vast majority of which was attributed to the military.
This decision marks an enormous step forward for justice in Guatemala. Almost all other landmark cases emerging from Guatemala’s civil war have been stalled in the country’s notoriously ineffective justice system. To get to this point, judges, prosecutors and witnesses involved in the case endured numerous death threats and attacks, including grenade attacks against one of the judges. But the difficulties are not over. The defense may still appeal the verdict. Moreover, Judge Jose Eduardo Cojulun, the head of the three-judge panel, announced that he has received numerous death threats since the sentence. "But I am not going to be intimidated. I am not going to leave the country." Other judges, prosecutors and witnesses continue to receive threats.
In a surprising move, the prosecutors urged at the end of the trial that new cases be pursued against other military officers higher up the chain of command for their involvement in or cover up of the bishop’s murder.
The Guatemalan Archbishop’s human rights office, the US government and international and Guatemalan human rights groups welcomed the verdict and praised the courage shown by the judges, witnesses and prosecutors. The international community must continue to pay attention to the situation to ensure the safety of all of those involved in the trial, as well as urging the Guatemalan government to protect the prosecutors and recommendations to bring other military officers involved in the case to justice. Moreover, progress in this one case, however important, can not be seen as sufficient redress for the many high-profile cases still stalled.
As this case comes to a close, another historic case opens. In the first week of June, more than 300 members of Guatemala’s indigenous communities filed a suit against the current President of Guatemala’s Congress, Efrain Rios Montt, charging him with genocide for massacres carried out under his rule while he was President of Guatemala in the early 1980s. Another case has been filed against ex-President Romeo Lucas Garcia, who preceded Rios Montt. As in the Gerardi case, the communities, lawyers and others involved in these suits are at tremendous risk; the Guatemalan government must be urged to provide protection, and the international community must be prepared to offer support. |
See also:
http://www.lawg.org/guatemala.htm
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