By
Associated Press
A Guatemalan court sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison five former civil patrollers who in 1982 abused more than 30 Achí indigenous people as a counterinsurgency method during the Civil War.
Five of the women directly accused the paramilitaries of sexual violations while another 29 indirectly
.
The women from various villages in the municipality of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, waited more than 30 years to obtain justice.
They told the court that after the abuse they suffered displacement, guilt and stigmatization, in addition to physical and emotional damage.
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In less than a month, the court heard the testimonies of victims and experts and reviewed documents that showed that Gabriel, Francisco and Damien Cuxum Alvarado, as well as Bernardo and Benvenuto Ruíz Aquino, violated the indigenous women when they were civil patrollers.
Gabriel Cuxum will also have to serve an extra sentence of eight years for trying to change his identity to evade justice.
The civil patrollers were private groups organized by the military during the armed conflict to control the population.
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Judge Gelvi Sical read the sentence and detailed that psychological reports made to the women showed that they were lucid and had a good memory.
He added that according to experts the abuses were committed to inflict pain and destroy communities that the former patrolmen considered enemies because they believed they supported the enemy guerrillas.
“That explains the forced disappearances, murders and sexual violations”
, assured the judge.
He added that the court was dismayed by what the women suffered, since it showed "a clear sign of slavery" and that they "have waited years to break the silence to be heard and demand justice."
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Pedrina Lopez, who was 12 years old when military allies came to her community and abused her for six hours, said she wanted "my truth to be heard, for justice to be done."
Several kilometers from the courtroom, via videoconference, the defendants heard their sentence.
Women identified as victims of human rights violations during Guatemala's civil war and their supporters pray in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in Guatemala City on Monday, January 24, 2022. Moises Castillo / AP
The women were between 12 and 52 years old when they were sexually violated and among the 36 victims there were four minors, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
The detainees were accused of crimes against the duties of humanity and usurpation of civil status, charges to which they had pleaded not guilty.
"The Civil Self-Defense Patrols were under the command of the Guatemalan Army," Judge Sical stressed during his reading of the sentence.
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On January 20, in a conversation with journalists, Teresa Cacaj, one of the victims of the rapes, stated that despite feeling ill and depressed she could still "fight a little" in search of justice.
On the outskirts of the Court Tower, in the center of Guatemala City, some 50 women joined together throughout the day this Monday to virtually follow the trial and accompany the victims, in addition to demanding justice.
According to a truth report of what happened during the war in Guatemala (1960-1996), some 200,000 people died and 45,000 were disappeared.
It adds that 97% of the crimes were committed by members of the army and paramilitaries and the remaining 3% by the guerrillas.