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April 22, 2013

Judge Rejects Order to Abandon Ríos Montt Trial 
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The judge overseeing the historic trial against former U.S.-backed
Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt has refused to obey another
judge's ruling that the case be adjourned. Ríos Montt has been tried on
charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the slaughter of
more than 1,700 people in Guatemala's Ixil region after he seized power
in 1982. But as the trial neared a close last week, an appeals judge
ordered the trial's suspension and nullified all proceedings dating back
to November 2011. In response, the judge trying Ríos Montt, Judge
Yassmin Barrios, said she would defy the order but suspended further
testimony pending a ruling by Guatemala's highest court.

 

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