Washington, DC— The retrial of General Efraín Ríos Montt will be heard today, October 13, by a Guatemalan court. The former dictator and military general will once again face charges of genocide committed against the Maya Ixil people of Guatemala during the country’s 36-year civil war. While Ríos Montt and other members of the Guatemalan military were found guilty of committing genocide in 2013, the decision was overturned by the Constitutional Court.
Jo-Marie Burt, an expert in transitional justice and a Senior Fellow for advocacy group the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), will be at the trial and is available for comments. In a recent article in The Huffington Post, Ms. Burt analyzes the legal procedures at play in this complex retrial and the implications for victims of genocide.
