A jury at the Court of Assizes in Leuven (Flemish Brabant has sentenced five former Guatemalan ministers and high-ranking officers in the Guatemalan army life imprisonment for 19 counts of crimes against humanity committed against Flemish Scheut missionaries. They were acquitted on charges of the manslaughter of the missionary Serge Berten.
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Former Guatemalan ministers and army officers convicted of the murder of Flemish missionaries
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The five Guatemalans stood trial in Leuven on charges of crimes against humanity, including kidnapping, torture and murder. The jury found the five accused, all former Guatemalan ministers and high-ranking army officers guilty of 19 counts of crimes against humanity.
All five were given life sentences and the jury saw no mitigating circumstances. The five men were also ordered to pay 91,000 euro in court costs and they have also had their civil rights revoked for the rest of their lives.
The life sentence is above all symbolical in nature. Given their advanced years the chance that the Guatemalans will end up in jail is slim. All 5 accused were convicted in their absence and the whereabouts two of those sentenced is not known.
On the charge of the manslaughter of the missionary Serge Berten the accused were acquitted. The jury had been split with regard to its verdict on this charge. 7 jurors believed the accused to be guilty, while 5 didn’t. Judges at the Court of Appeal intervened, and they found the accused not guilty, leading to their acquittal.
However, they were found guilty on the other charges that included the killing, forced disappearance and torture of the missionaries.