Guatemala: Waiting. Snapshots from Ríos Montt genocide trial courtroom, verdict imminent

Xeni Jardin

1:15 pm Fri, May 10, 2013

Photo: Xeni Jardin

[Guatemala City] — Above: Elena Caba Ijom of Nebaj, El Quiché, Guatemala, reads news about the trial as all of us in the courtroom here await a verdict in the genocide trial of Rios Montt and Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez.

The judges are expected to announce their decision at 4pm local time, despite new calls for annulment from a lower court.

Ms. Caba Ijom told this reporter she was 8 years old when her entire family was killed by the Army in 1982. Soldiers then tied her hands and feet and threw her into a river, breaking her legs.

“I survived,” she said.

Photo: Xeni Jardin

There are well over a hundred Ixil here, many reporters from Guatemalan and foreign press, international observers, and supporters of co-defendants Ríos Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez.

The former US-backed dictator and his then-chief of intelligence are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Both men say they are innocent.

Photo: Xeni Jardin

Above, Maria Sajiq (L) and Ana Laynez Herrera of Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala (R). Ms. Sajiq was among the survivors Miles O’Brien and I interviewed in Nebaj recently, for a PBS NewsHour report.

Here are more snapshots I’ve tweeted from the Ríos Montt genocide trial. And, here are more on Instagram.