A former Guatemalan governor accused of murdering more than 1,200 indigenous Isil Maya people during the country’s civil war from 1960 to 1996 is on trial. AFP the report said.
Benedicto Lucas Garcia served as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces during the term of his brother, Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, as president from 1978 to 1982. Planned and executed dozens of massacres in the western region of Quiche.
His charges include genocide, crimes against humanity and enforced disappearances.
Garcia, 91, is currently serving a 58-year sentence for kidnapping, rape and torture.
He attended the trial, which began on Friday, via video link from a military hospital.
“I am in despair,” he pleads in vain.
At the trial, more than 80 expert reports will be presented, including on the exhumation of dozens of bullet-riddled and burned bodies from mass graves, and about 30 survivors will testify against him.
“We hope that the court will consider this to be sufficient evidence for a conviction,” said Nery Rodenas, a lawyer for the Guatemalan Archbishop’s human rights office.
The Isil Maya were accused by the military of being a support base for left-wing guerrillas during the civil war.
According to the NGO Association for Justice and Reconciliation, approximately 1,300 indigenous people died in the massacre, including children and the elderly.
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