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| |  | | Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz | | | context : | Guatemala  | | judgement place : | Spain | | status : | Sought - Arrest warrant | | particulars : | An arrest warrant has been issued against him by the Spanish judicial authorities for torture and political assassination | | position : | Interior Minister |
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| | | | In December 1999, the 1992 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Rigoberta Menchù, together with several families who were victims of repression, lodged a complaint against Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz and against the dictators Laugerud and Lucas Garcia, before the Spanish “Audiencia Nacional“ for torture and genocide.
The accusations covered the following:
1. The attack, on the 31 January 1980, against the Spanish Embassy where 36 heads of the CUC farmers union had sought refuge. On his order, the Embassy was set on fire causing the death of 35 farmers and 3 members of the Embassy. The Ambassador escaped but was severely injured. An injured farmer was taken from the hospital, tortured and executed.
2. The official policy of “neglecting the Maya ethnic group” which reinforced the accusation of genocide
3. The persecution of the Menchù family because of its Maya origins. One member of this family, Vincente Menchù, the father of the Nobel Prize recipient, was one of the people murdered in the Embassy.
4. The disappearance and death of 4 Spanish priests in 1980 and 1981.
5. The disappearance or death of numerous leaders of social movements.
6. The capture and disappearance of 21 trade unionists in July 1980, including several pregnant women.
7. The assassination of 35 members of political parties in opposition to his
8. Several other cases of disappearances, torture or murder.
The plaintiffs explained that their appeal to universal competence and the filing of their complaint before a Spanish court was motivated by the impossibility to obtain justice in Guatemala due to the threats being made against the witnesses, the aggressions to which the judges were subjected, and the obvious lack of willingness on the part of the Guatemalan legal system over the last 30 years.
On 27 March 2000, the complaint was admitted by an examining magistrate, despite the opinion of the public prosecutor who considered this case to be one of “internal armed conflict” Based on an appeal by the latter, the “Audiencia Nacional” came to the decision on 13 December 2000 that Spain was not competent “at this point” to judge this affair, on the grounds that the Guatemalan authorities were pre-eminent to judge the affair.
In March 2001, the Rigoberta Menchù Foundation appealed to the Supreme Court which, on 25 February, and by 8 votes to 7, “partially allowed the appeal from the Foundation”. The Supreme Court did indeed reject the competence of the Spanish courts to judge the genocide against the Mayan Indians , but did authorise the “Audiencia Nacional” to investigate the murder of Spanish citizens, being the three persons burned alive in the attack against the Embassy and the four priests.
The indictment was therefore reduced to acts of torture and to seven murders.
On 2 December 2004, the Guatemalan Supreme Court appointed a judge to interrogate the Accused. On 10 December, on learning that Alvarez Ruiz had been living in Mexico for 22 years, the Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant requesting his extradition. The Mexican magistrate authorised his arrest, but on being immediately informed by a “leak”, Alvarez Ruiz left his home that same day and disappeared into thin air.
He is still being sought by the police… | |    | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | last time seen : | | | Mexico | | | charges : | | | Genocide
Other
Torture | | | profile last modified : | | | 25.11.2007 |
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