The lawyers for the six victims say the “historic” court decisions grant a light letter from survivors who have been demanding justice for decades.
Guatemala’s top courts sentenced three former paramilitary groups to 40 years each after being convicted of raping six Indigenous women between 1981 and 1983, one of the bloodiest periods of the Central American civil war.
The conviction and sentence on Friday marks another important step in achieving justice for Maya Achi Indigenous women who were sexually abused by government-controlled armed groups during a period of extreme bloodshed among the military and left-wing rebels who left as many as 200,000 dead or missing.
Judge Maria Achi Castellanos said former civil Self-Defense Patrol members Pedro Sanchez, Simeon Enriquez and Felix Tam were found guilty of crimes against humanity for sexually assaulting six members of the Maya Achi Group.
“The women recognized the perpetrators and recognized where the events took place. They were victims of crimes against humanity,” she said.
“They are solitary crimes that denounce women. It’s not easy to talk about them,” the judge said.
Hady Verley, an indigenous lawyer who represented the women, said the verdict was “historical.”
Several Maya Achi women in the court were praised at the end of the trial. There, some dressed in traditional clothing, while others heard the verdict through an interpreter.
One of the victims, the 62-year-old woman, told AFP News Agency, she was “very happy” in the verdict.
Pedro Sanchez, one of the three convicted men, told the court before the sentence.
However, Judge Marling Mayela Gonzalez Arrivillaga said that he was another member of the all-women’s three-panel court and there was no doubt about the woman’s testimony against the suspect.
The conviction was second in the Maya Achi women’s lawsuit against former military personnel and paramilitary groups. At the first trial held in January 2022, five former paramilitary groups were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The advocacy group Issues Watch said the incident “emphasizes the way the Guatemalan military used sexual violence as a weapon of war against Indigenous women.”
In 2016, a Guatemalan court was declared to two former military personnel for embracing 15 women from the Q’eqchi community. Both officers were sentenced to 360 years in prison.
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