On May 10th 2013, General Efraín Ríos Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 80 years in prison.
10 days later the guilty verdict was "vacated" by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala, fully exposing the apparatus of impunity, but the trial remains an historic and unprecedented event--the first time in the world that a former head of state was prosecuted for genocide in a national court. And, perhaps more significantly, the case marked the first time anywhere in the Americas that the genocide of indigenous peoples was put on trial.
On the first anniversary of the Ríos Montt conviction, in locations around the world, groups will gather to observe the significance of this day by reading excerpts from the sentencing of Ríos Montt.
(If you’d like to view a short film summarizing the trial, “The verdict”, http://vimeo.com/69360984).
For information: http://skylight.is/
10 days later the guilty verdict was "vacated" by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala, fully exposing the apparatus of impunity, but the trial remains an historic and unprecedented event--the first time in the world that a former head of state was prosecuted for genocide in a national court. And, perhaps more significantly, the case marked the first time anywhere in the Americas that the genocide of indigenous peoples was put on trial.
On the first anniversary of the Ríos Montt conviction, in locations around the world, groups will gather to observe the significance of this day by reading excerpts from the sentencing of Ríos Montt.
(If you’d like to view a short film summarizing the trial, “The verdict”, http://vimeo.com/69360984).
For information: http://skylight.is/
