Guatemala jails ex-paramilitaries for 40 years over rapes during civil war

After being found guilty of raping six Indigenous women between 1981 and 1983, one of the bloodiest times in the Central American civil war, a top Guatemalan court sentenced three former paramilitaries to 40 years each in prison.

In a time of bloodshed between the military and left-wing rebels, which left as many as 200, 000 people dead or missing, the conviction and sentencing on Friday represent yet another significant step toward bringing justice to the Maya Achi Indigenous women who were sexually abused by pro-government armed groups.

Judge Maria Eugenia Castellanos ruled that former members of the Civil Self-Defense Patrol, Pedro Sanchez, Simeon Enriquez, and Felix Tum, who had sexually assaulted six Maya Achi group members, had committed crimes against humanity.

The women recognized the perpetrators and the locations where the events occurred. They committed crimes against humanity, she claimed, applauding the women’s bravery in appearing in court on numerous occasions.

They stigmatize the woman, and they are solitude crimes. The judge remarked, “It is not simple to speak of them.”

The sentence, according to indigenous lawyer Haydee Valey, is “historical” because it finally acknowledges the struggle of civil war survivors, who have been demanding justice for a long time.

At the conclusion of the trial, where some dressed in traditional attire and others listened to the verdict through an interpreter, several Maya Achi women in the courtroom applauded.

A 62-year-old woman who was one of the victims described the verdict as “very happy” for her.

Before the sentencing, one of the three convicted men, Pedro Sanchez, declared to the court, “I am innocent of what they are accusing me of.”

However, another member of the all-women, three-panel court, Judge Marling Mayela Gonzalez Arrivillaga, stated that the witness testimony against the suspects was undisputed.

Second-degree murder convictions were issued in the case involving former military personnel and paramilitaries in the Maya Achi women’s trial. Five former paramilitaries were given sentences of 30 years in prison at the first trial, which took place in January 2022.

The case, according to advocacy group Impunity Watch, “demonstrates how the Guatemalan army waged war against indigenous women” during the civil war.

A Guatemalan court handed down a 2016 sentence to two former military officers for allegedly holding 15 women of Maya descent as sex slaves in 2016. A combined 360-year prison sentence was given to both officers.