Genocide Trial in Guatemala a Tribute to Tenacity of Indigenous Groups

The World

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Ríos Montt was in court Thursday morning for the second day of his genocide trial.

The retired general listened as a dozen prosecution witnesses described atrocities under his regime, how the Guatemalan Army swept through their villages in the early 1980s, killing their family members.

The trial marks the first and only genocide proceedings against a former head of state ever held in a domestic court.

Kate Doyle of the Guatemala Documentation Project for the National Security Archive has been monitoring the proceedings.

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