U.S. Court Finds Former Bolivian President Responsible for Civilian Deaths
U.S. Court Finds Former Bolivian President Responsible for Civilian Deaths
Bolivia's former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada leaves a federal courtroom in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on
March 20, 2018. Noah Friedman Rudovsky—Reuters
By CURT ANDERSON / AP April 4, 2018
(MIAMI) — A U.S. jury on Tuesday found a former president of Bolivia and his defense minister responsible for killings by security forces during 2003 unrest in the South American nation, awarding $10 million in damages in a lawsuit filed by Bolivians whose relatives were among the slain.
The jury verdict came Tuesday after a nearly three-week trial of the civil suit in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The jury found against former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, and his former defense minister, Jose Carlos Sanchez Berzain. Both have been living in the U.S. after fleeing Bolivia in 2003.
Lawyers for the two former officials vowed to seek to have the verdict overturned.
In the lawsuit originally filed in 2007, relatives of eight Bolivians who died claimed the two officials planned to kill thousands of civilians to crush political opposition during a time of civil unrest known as the “Gas War.” The lawsuit was filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which authorizes suits in the U.S. for extrajudicial killings.
More:
http://time.com/5227151/bolivia-sanchez-de-lozada-lawsuit/
Has been living well in the US all this time until Bolivians found a way to sue his US-raised and educated @$$.
