Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08GUATEMALA700
2008-06-02 22:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:
GUATEMALAN COURT SENTENCES 5 FORMER CIVIL DEFENSE
how-toVZCZCXYZ0000 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHGT #0700 1542249 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 022249Z JUN 08 FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5471
UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000700
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM MOPS MARR KJUS KCRM PGOV GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN COURT SENTENCES 5 FORMER CIVIL DEFENSE
PATROL MEMBERS FOR RIO NEGRO MASSACRE
UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000700
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM MOPS MARR KJUS KCRM PGOV GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN COURT SENTENCES 5 FORMER CIVIL DEFENSE
PATROL MEMBERS FOR RIO NEGRO MASSACRE
1. On May 28, a Guatemalan court convicted and sentenced five
former Civil Defense Patrol members (local civilian militias
trained and supervised by the Guatemalan military) to 780
years in prison for the March 1982 murder of 177 civilians --
70 women and 107 children -- in Rio Negro, Baja Verapaz, an
area of heavy guerrilla activity during the country's
internal conflict. The 780-year sentence was based on the
maximum penalty of 30 years for murder for each of the 26
identified victims. Each defendant would serve, at most, 30
years in prison, the maximum penalty for murder under the
1969 Penal Code that was in effect at the time of the
massacre.
2. The court also ordered the defendants to pay a total of
Q100,000 (USD13,333) in compensation to the families of the
26 victims, and ordered the capture of former ARMY Captain
Jose Antonio Solares Gonzalez, who remains at large despite a
2003 court order for his arrest, and former Civil Defense
Patrol members Ambrosio Perez Laju and Domingo Chen.
3. The families of the victims applauded the decision but
lamented that the case was not treated as a case of genocide,
torture, or massacre. Human rights activist Carmen Aida
Ibarra of the Myrna Mack Foundation agreed, noting that the
defendants were tried for the common crime of murder. She
argued that this was a human rights case which should have
been prosecuted as a case of massacre or genocide.
Derham
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM MOPS MARR KJUS KCRM PGOV GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN COURT SENTENCES 5 FORMER CIVIL DEFENSE
PATROL MEMBERS FOR RIO NEGRO MASSACRE
1. On May 28, a Guatemalan court convicted and sentenced five
former Civil Defense Patrol members (local civilian militias
trained and supervised by the Guatemalan military) to 780
years in prison for the March 1982 murder of 177 civilians --
70 women and 107 children -- in Rio Negro, Baja Verapaz, an
area of heavy guerrilla activity during the country's
internal conflict. The 780-year sentence was based on the
maximum penalty of 30 years for murder for each of the 26
identified victims. Each defendant would serve, at most, 30
years in prison, the maximum penalty for murder under the
1969 Penal Code that was in effect at the time of the
massacre.
2. The court also ordered the defendants to pay a total of
Q100,000 (USD13,333) in compensation to the families of the
26 victims, and ordered the capture of former ARMY Captain
Jose Antonio Solares Gonzalez, who remains at large despite a
2003 court order for his arrest, and former Civil Defense
Patrol members Ambrosio Perez Laju and Domingo Chen.
3. The families of the victims applauded the decision but
lamented that the case was not treated as a case of genocide,
torture, or massacre. Human rights activist Carmen Aida
Ibarra of the Myrna Mack Foundation agreed, noting that the
defendants were tried for the common crime of murder. She
argued that this was a human rights case which should have
been prosecuted as a case of massacre or genocide.
Derham