Event This Friday on Genocide in Guatemala

Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF), Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC), International Platform against Impunity, Latin American Studies at George Mason University, Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) are please to invite you to a public forum on

Genocide in Guatemala: 
The Future of the Trial against Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez

Featuring
 
Claudia Paz y Paz
Georgetown Law and former Attorney General of Guatemala
 
Francisco Soto
Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH)
 
Edwin Camil
Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH)
 
Edgar Pérez
Human Rights Legal Office (Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos)
 
Jorge Santos
International Center Human Rights Research (CIIDH)
 
Claudia Samayoa
Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala (UDEFEGUA)
 
Marcia Aguiluz
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
 
and moderated by
 
Jo-Marie Burt
George Mason University and WOLA Senior Fellow
 
Friday, October 31, 2014
9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
2nd floor, Room B and C
1779 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

For more information please contact Ashley Davis at +1 (202) 797-2171 or adavis@wola.org. The event will be held in Spanish.

On May 10, 2013, the ex-dictator of Guatemala José Efraín Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the extrajudicial execution of 1,771 indigeous Ixil Mayans between 1982 and 1983. Just ten days later, the Constitutional Court, under pressure from business and military sectors, overturned part of the proceedings, thereby nullifying the verdict. Since then the genocide case has been in a holding pattern. The tribunal now in charge of the case announced last year that it would reopen the case in January 2015. The world will be watching as Guatemala struggles to pursue accountability for the crimes of the past.

Speaking at this event are members of Guatemalan civil society and former Attorney General of Guatemala Claudia Paz y Paz, who created space in the Public Prosecutor’s Office for victims of Guatemala’s armed conflict to access truth and justice after more than three decades. The speakers will discuss the legal status of the genocide proceedings, the political environment and how it influences the legal situation, the effects of the stalled proceedings on the victims, and the status of the petition filed by the victims before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.