Former military dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity on May 10, will face trial once again after the Guatemalan Constitutional Court overturned the conviction on procedural grounds---according to La Jornada.
One of the lawyers of the 86-year-old man objected to the proceedings in April when at one point, a judge suspended the trial following a dispute with a colleague.
Rios Montt will be retried for his alleged role in the killings of more than 1,700 indigenous Maya Ixil villagers by the armed forces at his command.
On May 10 he was found guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison, but yesterday a senior court official said what had transpired during the trial after the April 19 dispute was invalid.
The dictator came to power in Guatemala in a coup in March 1982 and remained in office just over a year-and-a-half. And during that time, thousands of villagers suspected of helping anti-government rebels were killed, tortured and raped by the military. Rios Montt has denied the charges against him over the years.
The preceding judge, Yasmin Barrios, read the court decision aloud:
"By unanimous decision, the court declares that the accused, Jose Efrain Rios Montt, is responsible as intellectual author of the crime of genocide. He is responsible as the author of the crimes against humanity committed against the lives and integrity of the civilian residents of the villages and hamlets located in Santa Maria Nebaj, San Juan Cotzal and San Gaspar Chajul."
The conviction was hailed as a landmark for justice in the world, as no other former head-of-state has been condemned by their own country's tribunal. As many as 250,000 people were killed in Guatemala's civil wars between 1960 and 1996.
When Rios Montt lost power, he retired from the military, returned to politics and later unsuccessfully ran for president. But Montt still remained in politics as a congressman, a position that guaranteed immunity from persecution. He left Congress in 2012.
As a U.S. ally against left-wing guerrillas during the Cold War, Rios Montt had explicit support from President Ronald Reagan in his fight against what was seen as communist infiltration in different aspects of government and civilian life.
After civilian survivors had given their accounts of the atrocities during Rios Montt's regime, the sentencing judge said today's government, Congress, judiciary, interior minister and minister of defense "must ask the Mayan population for historical forgiveness."