Guatemala jails former police chief for war crimes
Guatemala jails former police chief for war crimes
Pedro Garcia, imprisoned for 1981 kidnapping of student during civil war, is latest in string of cases against former officials
Reuters in Guatemala City
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 August 2012 02.28 EDT
A Guatemalan court has sentenced a former police chief to 70 years in jail for ordering the kidnapping of a university student during the country's civil war.
The landmark ruling made Pedro Garcia the highest ranking police official to be sentenced for war crimes in Guatemala and was the latest in a string of cases the government has initiated against former officials.
Garcia, arrested last year at his home south-east of the capital, was convicted of crimes against humanity and the "forced disappearance" or kidnapping of engineering student Edgar Saenz, who went missing in 1981.
Garcia was police chief from 1974 until 1982. He faces separate murder charges in the 1980 burning of the Spanish embassy in Guatemala, which killed 36 people, including the father of Nobel peace prize-winner Rigoberta Menchu.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/22/guatemala-jails-former-police-chief
