Former Soldiers Get 6,060 Year Sentence in Guatemala for Massacre
Four retired army officers have been sentenced by a Guatemalan court to 6,060 years in prison for their contribution to a massacre during Guatemala's 36-year civil war Tuesday.
The four soldiers, Carlos Carias, Manuel Pop, Reyes Collin Gualip, and Daniel Martinez Hernandez each received 30 year prison sentences for each person killed in the 1982 Las Does Erres massacre.
They each also received an added 30 years for crimes against human rights which added another 30 years on top of their sentences totaling to 6,060 years in prison each.
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The defendants maintained their innocence throughout the trial.
Human Rights groups have applauded Guatemala for the sentences but have argued that higher ranked officials need to face justice.
The massacre, in which 201 civilians were killed, is one of the most notorious attacks that occurred in the decades long Guatemalan civil war where about 200,000 people were killed or disappeared.
The attack happened in December 1982 when around 20 elite unit soldiers from the group known as Kaibiles stormed into the village of Las Dos Erres looking for missing military weapons.
The soldiers, believing that locals had been collaborating with guerrillas, used the opportunity to brutalize villagers by shooting, strangling, and clubbing people to death with sledgehammers.
The massacre occurred over a total of three days and the remains of 67 children under the age of 12 were discovered after the soldiers had left the village.
Many of the slain bodies were thrown into a local well, including one baby.
The court ruling was the first time that soldiers have been convicted for abuses that occurred during the 36-year civil conflict that lasted until 1996.
Other former members of the unit also face charges for the attack.
One, Jorge Sosa, was arrested in Canada last year, while Pedro Pimentel Rios of Santa Ana, California was deported back to Guatemala last month.
Former Guatemalan President, Efrian Rios Montt, is facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in a Spanish court.
Outside the courtroom family members of victims awaited the sentences while the word justice was spelt out in rose petals.
Sebastian Elgueta of Amnesty International said in a statement: "This landmark sentence sends a message that Guatemala might finally be moving closer to delivering justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of grave human rights violations during the civil war."
