El Salvador charges ex-president in 1989 Jesuit massacre

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

El Salvador charges ex-president in 1989 Jesuit massacre

February 25, 2022

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Prosecutors in El Salvador have charged former president Alfredo Cristiani in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests that sparked international outrage.

Prosecutors also announced charges against a dozen other people, including former military officers, in the massacre. The list of charges will apparently include murder, terrorism and conspiracy.

Attempts within El Salvador to investigate and prosecute the masterminds of the killings during the country’s civil war had been deflected by legal maneuvers after the high court declared the 1993 amnesty established after the war to be unconstitutional in 2016.

The probe had been put on hold when the military officers appealed the case to the Supreme Court in 2019. But in January the Supreme Court ordered the re-opening of the investigation

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-massacres-el-salvador-san-salvador-alfredo-cristiani-1fbc1845b38d2cc655c922470eba4d8d

[mahina]

1. Good. Too late but better than never.

[burrowowl]

2. Good! About time!

[Judi Lynn]

3. El Salvador: Ex-president charged over priest killings in 1989

Former President Alfredo Cristiani has been charged in a case that has been pursued by prosecutors for years. Six Jesuit priests were killed in 1989 for being critics of the US-backed government during the civil war.

Date 26.02.2022

Former El Salvadorian President Alfredo Cristiani on Friday was charged in connection with the 1989 killing of six Jesuit priests.

. . .

1989 massacre
On November 16, 1989, an elite commando unit killed six priests as well as their housekeeper and the housekeeper's daughter at their home at a university. Five of the priests were Spaniards and one was Salvadorian.

The soldiers tried to make it look like the killings were committed by leftist guerrillas.

One of the slain priests was Father Ignacio Ellacuria, who was a prominent critic of the US-backed right-wing government of El Salvador. He was also the rector at the university.

More:
https://www.dw.com/en/el-salvador-ex-president-charged-over-priest-killings-in-1989/a-60925282