Guatemala in limbo

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Last week, in commenting on the May 10 sentencing of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, 86, to 80 years in jail for genocide and crimes against humanity, we were of the view that Guatemala had taken a courageous step towards putting an end to impunity for the perpetrators of such crimes. We did suggest, however, that the verdict might be more symbolic than realistic, given the general’s age and the prospect of a lengthy appeal process.
This week, we must perforce reconsider the outcome of the case, as the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, overturned on Monday Mr Ríos Montt’s conviction, by a majority decision of three to two, and ordered that the trial should restart from the point where it stood on April 19. According to a BBC report, the general had been briefly left without legal representation on that day, when his lawyer was expelled from the courtroom for accusing the presiding judge of bias against him. The panel of constitutional judges therefore ruled that the trial should have been halted, to allow the challenges filed by Mr Ríos Montt’s defence attorney to be resolved.