Guatemala court convicts 3 ex-paramilitaries of war crimes for rape and gives them 40-year sentences

In a landmark decision, Guatemala's justice system sentenced three former members of paramilitary groups to 40 years in prison on Friday, 30 May, for rape committed during the civil war in the 1990s. Their victims were women from indigenous communities, particularly targeted by the military dictatorship at the time. This is an achievement for the women of the Achi tribe, who have been seeking justice for decades.

More than four decades after the crimes, the victims of sexual violence now suffered justice. During the civil war in the Central American country, rapes were systematically used as a weapon.

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

Lawyers for six victims say ‘historic’ decision recognises the plight of survivors who demanded justice for decades.

A Guatemalan court sentenced three men, former military collaborators during the 36-year-old war in Guatemala, to 40 years in prison for the rape of six Mayan Akhí indigenous women, which involved the closure of a judicial case of sexual abuse of 36 women in the same community more than 40 years ago.

A court in Guatemala has sentenced three exparamilitars to 40 years in prison this Friday for sexually abusing six indigenous women during the bloodiest years of the civil war, in the second sentence of the case known as Mujeres Achí. During the trial, the voice of Pedrina Ixpatá Rodríguez, one of the six victims of the rapes that occurred in 1983, was heard when the bloodiest years of the civil war (1981-1983) were being lived in Guatemala: “I …