Top Guatemala Aide Linked to Genocide Keeps Immunity from Trial
Top Guatemala Aide Linked to Genocide Keeps Immunity from Trial
Published 28 January 2016
Edgar Ovalle Maldonado, a top advisor to President Jimmy Morales, has been linked to forced disappearances during Guatemala's most brutal years of civil war.
A top presidential advisor in Guatemala accused of dictatorship-era crimes and human rights abuses will continue to enjoy immunity from trial as the Supreme Court ruled Thursday not to grant prosecutors’ request to strip his immunity.
Edgar Ovalle Maldonado is a member of congress, former military officer and right-hand man to the newly-inaugurated President Jimmy Morales, and is considered one of the key strategists that helped bring him to power. Prosecutors called for Ovalle’s immunity to be removed earlier this month, which will open him up to prosecution for overseeing grave human rights violations during the country’s 36-year brutal civil war.
But the Supreme Court rejected the request on the basis that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.
Ovalle was a high-ranking general in Guatemala’s predominantly Indigenous Quiche region and has been linked to human rights violations and forced disappearances during one of the most brutal periods of genocide in the early 1980’s.
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Top-Guatemala-Aide-Linked-to-Genocide-Keeps-Immunity-from-Trial-20160128-0043.html
[center]
Edgar Ovalle Maldonado, sitting on Jimmy Morales' left side.
General Ovalle Maldonado
Current Guatemalan President's idea of a great comic career,
pretending to be a poor Guatemalan citizen for laughs, prior
to becoming El Presidente.
True class. Or maybe not. [/center]