A Guatemalan judge on Monday Jan 28,2013 ordered Efraín Rios Montt, the former dictator, and his intelligence chief to stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with the massacres of villagers in remote highlands three decades ago.
The ruling clears the way for a public trial for Efraín Rios Montt, a former General,who ruled Guatemala for 17 months in 1982 and 1983 during the bloodiest period of the country’s long-running civil war.
The two are accused because they had final command over troops that killed 1,771 people in the Mayan-Ixil region as soldiers carried out a scorched-earth campaign to hunt down left-wing guerrillas.
It is a stunning decision for Guatemala, where the military still wields significant power behind the scenes and the country’s elected governments have struggled to build democratic institutions.
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