Policy

Judge Suspends Genocide Trial of Former Guatemalan Dictator

Legal process to be set back to November 2011

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Uncertainty loomed in Guatemala early Friday morning as hundreds of indigenous Ixils made their way into the Supreme Court to demand justice.

In an unprecedented turn of events, a judge who was recently reinstated to the case of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt ordered the suspension of the trial late Thursday, heightening tensions around already contentious legal proceedings that have divided Guatemalans. Her move in effect forces the trial to start over.