Guatemalan court convicts Rios Montt of genocide

(Vatican Radio) A former dictator of Guatemala, Effrain Rios Montt, has been convicted of genocide, as well as crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 80 years in jail.

The trial, the verdict and the sentencing were done in Guatemala City, rather than in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.


The 86-year-old retired army general and one-time coup d'état leader was convicted of ordering the killings of more than 1,700 Ixil indigenous people during his dictatorship, between 1982 and 1983.

He denied all of the charges, insisting he never gave any such orders.

The presiding judge stated that the violence during Rios Montt’s time in power was not spontaneous but premeditated.

Rios Montt, who has been under house arrest, was sentenced to 50 years behind bars for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity. He is likely to appeal promptly.

Latin America's longest civil war, the carnage of which killed more than 200,000 people, endured from 1960 to 1996.

Listen to the report by James Blears: