Guatemalan Court Finds Former Dictator May be Tried for Genocide and Crimes against Humanity (August 26, 2015) [1]
On August 26, 2015, a Guatemalan court held that that former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt may stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity but that he may not be sentenced as he suffers from dementia. The charges relate to Ríos Montt’s actions during Guatemala’s civil war under his dictatorship in 1982 and 1983. According to a news article [3], the court found that “the law allows for a special trial where all evidence and witnesses will be presented behind closed doors with a representative of Ríos Montt. He can be found guilty or not guilty, but will not receive a sentence because of his health conditions.” Ríos Montt was previously convicted and sentenced in 2013 to eighty years for genocide and crimes against humanity, but his conviction was subsequently thrown out on a technicality.