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Summary: This marks the second ever verdict for crimes committed during the country's 36-year civil war.
[22 March 2012] - A Guatemalan court yesterday sentenced five men to 7,710 years in prison each for their roles in a 1982 massacre that left at least 256 indigenous people dead. Former civil patrollers Eusebio Grace, Julián and Mario Acoj and Santos Rosales as well as former military commissioner Lucas Tecú were found guilty for their roles in a massacre in the village of Plan de Sánchez. Each man was sentenced to 30 years per murder plus 30 years for crimes against humanity. According to humanitarian organisation ACOGUATE, the massacre happened on July 18, 1982. Between 2 and 3pm, about 60 men dressed in military uniform with assault rifles entered the town. They separated young women and girls from the rest of the population, raping and battering them before killing them. Amnesty International also notes that other adults were imprisoned in a house before troops fired on them indiscriminately and attacked them with hand-grenades. Some villagers were forced into straw dwellings that were doused with gasoline and set alight. Most people killed were Achí Mayans, and their bodies were dumped into mass graves. Though a group of survivors filed a complaint in 1992, there were no developments in the case until August 2011 when the five men were captured. “Slowly but surely, justice is beginning to prevail for these horrendous crimes that have hung over Guatemalan society for three decades,” said Sebastian Elgueta, Central America researcher at Amnesty International. “Each new verdict erodes the long-entrenched impunity in the country, and the authorities must continue to ensure that the thousands of victims and their relatives are given access to justice and full reparation as well as the truth about what happened.” Other Cases Amnesty International also notes that the de facto head of state at the time of the massacre, now-retired General José Efraín Ríos Montt, is currently facing genocide charges. Charges were laid in January. On 12th March, Pedro Pimentel Ríos was the fifth person to be convicted and sentenced for crimes related to the Dos Erres Massacre, another massacre in Guatemala where more than 200 people were tortured and killed. This Friday is also the 30-year anniversary of Ríos Montt’s rise to the head of state in Guatemala. The man came to power after a 1982 coup d’etat and stayed in power until August 1983. Half of all the documented human rights violations during Guatemala’s internal armed conflict took place in those years. Further Information: