El Salvador holds trial for army killing of Dutch journalists
Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemsen were killed in 1982 while filming a television documentary during El Salvador's civil war.
The accused are General Jose Guillermo Garcia, 91, former police colonel Francisco Antonio Moran, 93, and ex-infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes Mena, 85.
In 1993, a UN-sponsored Truth Commission found the journalists had walked into an ambush planned by Reyes, who lives in the United States, and with the knowledge of other officers.
The Salvadoran Supreme Court approved an extradition request for Reyes in March, but there has been no progress so far.
Garcia and Moran are under police surveillance in a private hospital in San Salvador.
The hearing in the northern city of Chalatenango is expected to conclude on Wednesday with a verdict from a five-member jury.
If convicted, the defendants face prison sentences of up to 30 years.
The trial was closed to the media, but activist Oscar Perez of the Fundacion Comunicandonos confirmed from the courtroom that it was under way.
The NGO and the Salvadoran Association for Human Rights hailed the trial as a "decisive step" in the search for truth and justice.
"We trust that this trial sets a historic precedent in the fight against impunity," they said in a joint statement.
The Netherlands' Costa Rica-based ambassador to Central America, Arjen van den Berg, was in court.
The case remained unresolved for decades after the presiding judge received threats in 1988, prompting her to seek refuge in Canada.
It was reopened in 2018 after the Supreme Court declared an amnesty law for civil war crimes unconstitutional, but relatives of the victims still had to wait years for the main hearing.
Evidence such as a statement from a former US military attache and a military expert's report "directly points" to the defendants' responsibility, said lawyer Pedro Cruz, who represents the victims' families.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
38 minutes ago
- Euronews
North Korea doubles down on support for Russia's war in Ukraine
North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un has once again affirmed his "unconditional support" for Russia's all-out war against Ukraine during a meeting with a top Russian official. The authoritarian ruler made the comment during talks with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang on Wednesday, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim reiterated his 'unconditional support for the stand of Russia and its foreign policies in all the crucial international political issues including the Ukrainian issue", KCNA reported. The two countries' ties have strengthened in recent years, with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops to Russia to participate in its war against Ukraine. The North Korean soldiers have been deployed in Russia's Kursk region, parts of which were seized by the Ukrainian army in a surprise offensive last August. Speculation about North Korea's deployment of troops to Russia first arose at the end of 2024, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Korean officials accusing Pyongyang of sending soldiers to support Moscow's war efforts. However, it wasn't until April that Moscow and Pyongyang officially confirmed the presence of North Korean troops on the battlefield. A monitoring group comprising South Korea, the US, Japan and eight other countries last week classified Russia and North Korea's military alliance as 'illegal", saying it flagrantly violates UN sanctions. The report said their pact was allowing North Korea to fund its banned ballistic missile programme. The group also expressed concern that Russia might also transfer sophisticated technologies to help North Korea enhance its nuclear weapons programme. In late April, North Korea unveiled the country's first naval destroyer, named the Choe Hyon, which experts say was likely built with Russian assistance, in further proof of growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Bosnian Serb leader rejects verdict appeal amid political turmoil
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has not appealed his verdict and will not attend the state-level court session next Thursday — the latest development in a prolonged high-tension political crisis in the Western Balkan country that has since simmered down to a steady boil. The crisis reached its peak in late February, when the Sarajevo-based Court of BiH convicted Dodik of going against the decisions of the country's international peace envoy, Christian Schmidt, which constitutes a criminal act. The verdict is not final, and Dodik had the option to appeal it. In the meantime, however, the president of Bosnia's Serb-majority entity of the Republika Srpska (RS), Dodik introduced new laws meant to ban the operation of state-level security and judicial institutions in what comprises about half of the Western Balkan country's territory. The decisions have been temporarily suspended by the state-level Constitutional Court. "As far as I'm concerned, that verdict doesn't exist, and it is null and void," Dodik told Euronews Serbia. "I didn't even appeal because the RS parliament stated that the work of that court is banned in the territory of RS, as the court itself is unconstitutional," he argued. At the same time, Dodik firmly rejected allegations that his actions have alienated him from political actors from the other entity of the Federation of BiH and inched the country, which already went through a bloody war in the 1990s, closer to renewed conflict. "What I want is to establish communication and maintain peace," Dodik said. "A year ago, according to (leaders of the other entity), the main warmonger was Milorad Dodik. But nothing happened." "You won't find a single action of mine heading in that direction, nor will you find even one such statement," he said. Dodik also questioned the legitimacy of High Representative Schmidt, saying he acted against "imposed decisions" by the envoy whose mandate, Dodik claims, contradicts the Dayton Agreement, signed in 1995 to end the war in the country. The agreement brought about the end of the war between the country's three main ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — that began in 1992 during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, deemed as the bloodiest conflict on European soil since World War II. The High Representative is meant to act as the chief arbiter in high-profile disputes and the key figure overseeing the implementation of the deal. The peace agreement, parts of which act as the country's constitution, split the country into two main administrative units, or entities: the Serb-majority RS and the Bosniak-Croat FBiH, partially overseen by an umbrella state-level government. Meant to appease the former belligerents, it created a complicated system of checks and balances, said to be the world's most complex democracy. Dodik's ongoing challenge to the High Representative and state-level institutions' authority has been deemed to be the EU membership hopeful's biggest test of post-war stability. The Court of BiH issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Dodik in March, but he has not been apprehended since. In the meantime, he has travelled to neighbouring Serbia, Israel and Russia, where he attended the 9 May Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, organised by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Back home, tensions flared up once again in late April after state-level security agency inspectors tried to arrest Dodik, but were prevented from doing so. While the details around the incident remained unclear, the domestic media reported that SIPA agents left after 'talking' to the RS police. Dodik later said he felt 'fine and safe". The European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, has stepped up the number of its troops in response to the tensions. In March, NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged the military alliance's "unwavering" support for Bosnia's territorial integrity. "Three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, I can tell you: NATO remains firmly committed to the stability of this region and to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Rutte said at the time. "We will not allow hard-won peace to be jeopardised."
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
French dock workers block shipment of military material for Israel: union
The stevedores at the port in Fos-sur-Mer outside Marseille have refused to load crates of links used to assist the rapid fire of bullets aboard the cargo vessel, the CGT trade union said. Links are small metal pieces, used to connect machine gun bullets and allowing rapid bursts of fire. There has been concern in media and among rights groups that they have likely been used against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Christophe Claret, leader of the dock workers in the port, said they had been notified that the ship was due to be loaded on Thursday with the material. "We managed to identify it and set it aside," he told AFP, emphasising that once dockers refuse to load a shipment, no one else can do it for them. The other containers for the ship will all be loaded. According to the union, the cargo is 19 pallets of links manufactured by the Marseille-based company Eurolinks. The CGT said the move made clear its refusal to "participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government." Leading rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in its military campaign, a charge vehemently rejected by the government. 'Humanism is not for sale' Contacted by AFP, Eurolinks did not respond to a request for comment. The Port of Marseille-Fos had no comment. "We are very proud of this action led by our comrades and which is part of the CGT's long internationalist tradition for peace," CGT secretary general Sophie Binet told reporters in the eastern city of Strasbourg on Thursday. "It is unacceptable that CGT dockers should be the ones forced to uphold the fundamental principles of international law and French values. The government must immediately block all arms deliveries to the State of Israel," she said. The move was also welcomed by hard-left and left-wing leaders in France. "Humanism is not for sale," said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure. According to the investigative website Disclose, which had access to maritime data, two other such shipments between Fos-sur-Mer and the Israeli port of Haifa took place on April 3 and May 22. French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu had stated at the time that these parts exported by the Marseille company would be "re-exported" through Israel and not used by the Israeli army. The latest war started after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 55 remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 2023 has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the occupied Palestinian territory, while the United Nations said on May 30 the territory's entire population of more than two million people was at risk of famine.
