News recap: Court affirms that the state enacted genocide, but finds Rodríguez Sánchez not guilty in a split decision; Constitutional Court upholds temporary suspension of Escoal mine and calls on the State to consult impacted Xinka communities. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
We will use this genocide verdict to leave a good tree planted, with strong roots -- the fruits of which will be enjoyed by our children. - Edwin Canil, President of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation, survivor and plaintiff organization On September 26, in a split, 2-1 decision, [...]
Today, the trial against former Head of Military Intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez is expected to reach a verdict. As a key player under Efraín Ríos Montt’s 1982-1983 dictatorship in Guatemala, Rodríguez Sánchez stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Ixil people. Over the past year, [...]
"We're motivated to come here - come and listen, to see whether or not there will be justice in Guatemala." Today, the genocide retrial against former head of military intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez moved into powerful closing arguments, where plaintiffs synthesized key points in the [...]
On April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt died from a heart attack at the age of 91. Having initially been convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Ixil people, he died under house arrest facing a retrial. Today, survivors organized with the [...]
On Sunday, April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan de facto dictator Efraín Ríos Montt died of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he was being retried for genocide and crimes against humanity, after initially being convicted in 2013. Read the following statement by the Center for Human [...]
News recap: Prayerful action on the Equinox at the Ohlone Shellmound and Village Sacred Site in California; Genocide retrial moves to Nebaj to hear testimonies from elderly and protected witnesses; Nearly 40 years later, former military officials stand trial for crimes against the Molina Theissen family; NISGUA's latest report celebrates community [...]
Nearly a year has passed since the March 2017 indictment of five former high-ranking officers in the Guatemalan military for crimes against humanity. They stand accused of having participated in the illegal detention, torture, and sexual assault of Emma Guadalupe Molina Theissen and the forced disappearance of her 14-year-old [...]
Today, plaintiff organizations went to Guatemala’s Constitutional Court to ask that the Court include testimonies from 35 key witnesses in the Military Zone 21 case – the largest case of forced disappearance to date in Latin America’s history. The plaintiff organizations and public prosecutor claim that during the [...]
En medio del nuevo juicio del caso por genocidio de los acusados José Efraín Ríos Montt y José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, la Asociación para la Justicia y la Reconciliación (AJR), el Centro de Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), y el Bufete de Derechos Humanos (BDH) publicaron un comunicado [...]
In the midst of the ongoing genocide retrial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), and the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) published a press release in the Guatemalan newspaper, El Periódico, to mark [...]
Young Ixil university students stand in solidarity with genocide survivors outside of court.Photo credit: Ixil University students, Chemol txumb'al, FUNDEBASE, y AJR Friday, December 1, marked the seventh trial date since the case for genocide against Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez was reopened on [...]
El siguiente comunicado fue publicado por el Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos – CALDH y publicado aquí con su permiso. Jose Efraín Ríos Montt fue condenado a 80 años en prisión por genocidio y crímenes de lesa humanidad en contra del Pueblo Ixil el 10 de [...]
News recap: "This Land is Ours": Hundreds march to demand the restitution of stolen and occupied lands at site of Military Zone 21; Former military officers to stand trial for crimes committed against Molina Theissen family; Thousands respond to international call to action against violent repression of peaceful protest in Casillas; Inter-American [...]
News recap: Motions filed against former Constitutional Court judges for breach of duty in overturning the genocide verdict; Ríos Montt to stand trial for genocide for his role in the Dos Erres massacre; Accompanier perspective: "As You Come Home: Immigration, Reunion, and the Continuity of Power"; Thousands respond to action [...]
Photo credit: Roderico Díaz. News recap: Honoring the life of Miguel Ramírez Matóm, witness in the Ixil genocide trial; Take action: Denounce impunity for attacks against environmental defenders; Communities in the Ixcán commemorate 10 years since the referendum that said ‘no’ to resource extraction; Announcing our fall tour: "Guatemala youth in defense of [...]
Today marks the opening of the trial against seven land defenders from northern Huehuetenango, all of whom have been held in pretrial detention as political prisoners for over a year. All seven are being accused of crimes that allegedly took place during community protests against the imposition of hydroelectric [...]
The following are translations from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), plaintiff in the genocide case against former dictator Ríos Montt and his Head of Military Intelligence, Rodríguez Sánchez. CALDH and the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) are currently participating in the closed-door retrial of Ríos [...]
Photo of 14-year-old Marco Antonio Molina Theissen. Photo credit: Lucrecia Molina Theissen The submission of preliminary evidence in the Molina Theissen trial was expected in Guatemala's First Instance Tribunal last week but was halted by a defense appeal on the issue of amnesty. The court had previously ruled [...]
News recap: CREOMPAZ: Public Prosecutor presents evidence in the largest case of forced disappearance in Guatemala’s history; Closed-door genocide retrial moves to Ixil territory; Observer mission travels to Huehuetenango to document human rights violations in the context of hydroelectric projects; “Communities Rise Up” delegation builds connections across borders. This and more in this [...]
The following is a statement released by Ixil human rights organizations in light of the decision to move the genocide retrial to Nebaj for three days this week. This is the first time the Court for High-Risk Crimes is moving the closed-door trial to Ixil territory, to hear from elderly [...]
The following is a translation of reports from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), one of the plaintiff organizations in the genocide case against former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt and his former head of military intelligence, José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez. While witnesses and plaintiff organizations continue to uphold the validity [...]
One of the pillars of international human rights accompaniment is the backing of a strong and active international network that commits to ongoing education of the international community about the human rights context of those we accompany, monitors the specific situations of those human rights defenders, and is ready [...]
"We are talking about one of the biggest cases of forced disappearance in Latin America." - Thelma Aldana, Guatemala Attorney General Major arrests were made yesterday morning related to cases of crimes against humanity and forced disappearances committed between 1981 and 1988 by former high-ranking military officers. The remains of 558 people have been [...]
Earlier this year, the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) inaugurated the permanent installation of the Casa de la Memoria, an art exhibit that empowers youth to reconstruct their historical memory through the creation of personal and collective identity. NISGUA accompanier Kayla Myers takes us on a photographic [...]
Legal battles over Efraín Ríos Montt's health have taken center stage over the past three months in the decades-long search for justice for genocide in Guatemala. On August 25, the three-judge tribunal ruled that Ríos Montt is mentally unfit to stand trial due to chronic and irreversible dementia. The [...]
On Tuesday, Guatemala's National Forensic Science Institute (INACIF) published a report stating that former general Efraín Ríos Montt is mentally unfit to stand trial. The report was requested by Judge Carol Patricia Flores, the same judge who attempted to annul the genocide trial proceedings on April 18, 2013. The [...]
NISGUA sat down with several members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) to ask them how they feel about the genocide retrial and the events of January 5th, when lead Judge Jeannette Valdés was recused from hearing the case and the retrial was suspended. The departure of [...]
"We know that genocide took place. The whole world knows it, but the truth has been denied." Juventino Caal, member of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) Yesterday, a new trial against Jose Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez opened in Guatemalan courts and once again [...]
“The thousands and thousands of victims will never abandon this struggle. We have to see it through. There are multitudes of victims by my side demanding that I speak out for justice and so I am going to speak out. In no moment will this [struggle] be abandoned. We have [...]
OUR SUPPORT FOR THE DIGNITY AND PROFESSIONALISM of HONORABLE JUDGE YASSMÍN BARRIOS To the people of Guatemala and to the international community, we express our total indignation of the decision emitted by the ethics tribunal of the Guatemalan Bar Association that attempts to penalize Judge Yassmín Barrios Aguilar. [...]
This morning, the Constitutional Court (CC), Guatemala’s highest court, will hear arguments regarding the April 2013 decision by Judge Carol Patricia Flores to set the genocide case back to a pre-trial phase. The mid-trial ruling cited technical errors in the judicial process and stated that the case should return [...]
Genocide survivors submit a complaint before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington DC on November 6, 2013. Photo: AJR INTERNATIONAL COMPLAINT AGAINST THE GUATEMALAN STATE FOR DENIAL OF JUSTICE IN THE GENOCIDE CASE Washington D.C., November 6, 2013 - Today, survivors of the Guatemalan genocide, along with [...]
DENUNCIA INTERNACIONAL CONTRA ESTADO DE GUATEMALA POR DENEGACION DE JUSTICIA EN EL CASO DE GENOCICIO Washington D.C. 06 de noviembre 2013.- Víctimas sobrevivientes del genocidio en Guatemala y organizaciones sociales, interpusieron hoy, ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), una denuncia contra el Estado de Guatemala por la [...]
Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre splashed "CC brings José Efraín Ríos Montt closer to amnesty" across its front page headlines, with the corresponding article publishing excerpts of a leaked ruling issued by the Constitutional Court. Plaintiffs and lawyers still have not received notification of the decision at the time of [...]
El día de hoy, la Prensa Libre publicó un articulo declarando que "Ríos Montt se acerca a amnistía, según Corte de Constitucionalidad". El Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos responde a la nota de prensa con el siguiente comunicado. AMNISTÍA NO ES APLICABLE A DELITOS DE GENOCIDIO [...]
In Guatemala City, hundreds celebrated the Day of Heroes and Martyrs on June 30, in lieu of the perennial national holiday known as Army Day. Since 1999, groups of urban activists have chosen to commemorate those killed in the internal armed conflict, rather than the army, on this day. [...]
Several hundred traveled from Guatemala City to Nebaj on June 21-22 with the "Caravan for the Dignity of the Ixil People and Against Genocide". Photo: NISGUA Ixil authorities welcome organizations to Nebaj. Photo: NISGUA Each year on June 22, the Ixil people remember their martyrs and heroes. The day [...]
While we await the next steps of the genocide trial, we are honored to provide an accessible archive of the daily coverage we provided from day 1 of the trial. Please read and share this historic collection. Genocide on Trial, Day 1: Ixil witnesses speak Genocide on Trial, Day [...]
NISGUA continues live coverage of the trial in Guatemala of Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez for genocide and crimes against humanity. Read our previous summaries: Day 1, 2, 3, 4/5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-14, 12, 13/14, 15/16, 17/18, 19, 20-1, 20-2, 21, Constitutional Court decisions, [...]