Prosecutors are determining if they will be able to retry former dictator Efrain Rios Montt after Guatemala’s high court overturned his genocide conviction.  Human Rights groups are appalled at the court’s decision.

On 10 May, Rios Montt was convicted of ordering the slaughter of more than 1,700 Ixil indigenous Mayans, whom he considered sympathetic to Leftists, and sentenced to 80-years in prison.

(Learn more about why Rios Montt was convicted here, here, and here)

However, in a 3-2 decision, the high court took advantage of legal confusion over a change in judges overseeing the Rios Montt trial, and ruled that all proceedings after 19 April were void. 

Amnesty International's Sebastian Elgueta said the ruling was a “devastating blow for the victims of the serious human rights violations committed during the conflict” and called the legal basis for the ruling “unclear”.

The San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability said, “It seems that reversing a sentence on such flimsy and formalistic grounds could only be the product of political maneuvers and pressure.”