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Former President of El Salvador Accused of Massacre of Jesuit Priests

2022-02-27T03:47:25.646Z


The former president of El Salvador Alfredo Cristiani Burkard (1989-1994) was accused in court along with 12 other people.


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(CNN Spanish) --

The former president of El Salvador Alfredo Cristiani Burkard (1989-1994) was accused in court along with 12 other people for his alleged links to the murder of six Jesuit priests and two collaborators that occurred 32 years ago during his administration reported the Attorney General of the Republic.

According to the tax request presented to the court, Cristiani is accused of the crime of commission by omission in the crime of murder.

The announcement was made by the attorney general himself, Rodolfo Delgado, through his official Twitter account, where he published a video with the details.

“For years they were protected and did not face justice.

That's over," Delgado said.

So far, CNN en Español has not been able to obtain a reaction from the former president and does not know if he already has a lawyer.

In December 2017, Cristiani denied to Grupo Megavisión that he had participated in an alleged meeting with high-ranking military commanders to order the massacre.

"I was not in a meeting at the General Staff that night," the former president told local television at the time.

The criminal accusation

According to the accusation, on November 16, 1989, a group of soldiers entered the José Simeón Cañas Central American University and murdered eight people: six priests and two Salvadorans who collaborated in this academic center.

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According to Delgado, this accusation "is part of the efforts being made by the Attorney General's Office to bring to the bench all those responsible for various crimes that occurred during the time of the conflict."

Along with Cristiani, 12 other people will face the charges, for which the Prosecutor's Office has requested that an arrest warrant be issued.

According to the authorities, a peace court must set a date for the initial hearing to decide whether there are elements to order the capture of the accused.

Jesuit case reopened

Last January, the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of El Salvador invalidated the decision made by the Criminal Chamber of the CSJ that in September 2020 closed the criminal process for the murder of six Jesuit priests and two of their collaborators, which occurred on November 16, 1989, during the Salvadoran civil war.

The main argument of the Chamber at that time was that there was "violation of the rights to legal certainty, jurisdictional protection and to know the truth."

The Criminal Chamber argued, in September 2020, that on December 12, 2000, the Third Court of Peace ordered the final dismissal at an initial hearing, considering that the criminal action had prescribed since more than 10 years had passed since the crime at the time that the attorney general of El Salvador presented the accusation, the maximum limit established by the legislation in the Central American country to prosecute a crime.

The victims were the Spanish Jesuits Ignacio Ellacuría, Segundo Montes, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Armando López and Juan Ramón Moreno, as well as three Salvadorans, the priest Joaquín López and his collaborators, Elba and her daughter Celina Ramos.

The Jesuit priests were assassinated during the guerrilla offensive "Hasta el Tope" by an elite group of the Army, in the facilities of the Central American University, according to the report of the Truth Commission, prepared in 1993, with the support of the United Nations.

The Truth Commission on the Civil War in El Salvador, which had the support of the United Nations, concluded in 1993 that an elite group of the Army assassinated the Jesuit priests in the facilities of the Central American University.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-02-27

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