PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) at #IxilGenocide trial

Published by Brent Patterson on October 18, 2024October 18, 2024

On October 16, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“Today #PBI accompanies the Board of Directors of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation -AJR- to the continuation of the oral and public debate of the #GenocidioIxil case.

Today’s hearing consisted of the presentation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) of the first part of the technical-military expert report by General Rodolfo Robles Espinoza.

November 4th will be the last day for the presentation of evidence and in the subsequent hearings the conclusions of the parties will be heard.

The next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow [October 17] at 8.30am, where the reading of the aforementioned expert report will continue.”

The Ixil Genocide

Prensa Comunitaria has reported:

“The trial against the former chief of staff of the army, Benedicto Lucas, began this Friday [April 5, 2024] in the High Risk Court ‘A’, presided over by Judge Gervi Sical. The facts on trial are the deaths of 844 people of the Mayan Ixil ethnic group between 1981 and 1982, when Lucas was chief of staff of the army.

According to the prosecutor’s office, when the general held the position of chief of staff of the army, between August 16, 1981, and March 23, 1982, the attack against the Mayan Ixil population, north of Quiché, in the municipalities of Nebaj, Cotzal and Chajul, intensified.

This area was declared red by the Chief of Staff with the intention of destroying this population because they were considered to support the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), one of the four guerrilla groups during the internal armed conflict.”

On October 3, LaHora.gt reported: “The trial against Lucas began on April 5 and to date it has been 6 months of oral and public debate in which the court has heard experts and witnesses proposed by the Public Ministry (MP) and who affirm that the retired military officer participated in the massacres that ended the lives of more than a thousand Ixil settlers established in Quiché. between 1980 and 1981.”

Accompaniment

The Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) is a coalition of survivors from 22 communities in five regions of the country that suffered the scorched earth policy between 1978 and 1985.

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying the AJR Board of Directors in April 2024 and will continue to do so for the duration of this judicial process.