Querella en España contra Alfredo Cristiani y ex cúpula militar salta a las páginas del todopoderoso New York Times
La edición impresa del periodismo de elite por excelencia, el matutino The New York Times, sacaba en sus páginas el caso de “crímenes contra la humanidad”, presentado en la Audiencia Nacional del Estado español contra Alfredo Cristiani y la ex cúpula militar por dos ONGs, el Centro de Justicia y Responsabilidad de San Francisco, California, Estados Unidos y la Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España.
Jesuit Killings in El Salvador Could Reach Trial in Spain
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By VICTORIA BURNETT
MADRID — Nearly 20 years after the Salvadoran Army killed six Jesuit priests in one of the most notorious events of El Salvador’s civil war, a criminal complaint filed in the Spanish High Court has revived hopes that those behind the massacre could face trial.
Human rights lawyers filed a complaint on Thursday against the Salvadoran president at the time, Alfredo Cristiani Burkard, and 14 former members of the Salvadoran military, for their roles in the killings of the priests and two female employees, and in the official cover-up that followed. International outrage over the murders proved to be pivotal in sapping American support for United States military assistance to the Salvadoran Army.
“We hope this case helps to reawaken the memory and the conscience of El Salvador’s people,” said Almudena Bernabeu, a lawyer for the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, a human rights law center, which filed the case along with the Spanish Association for Human Rights.
The Spanish High Court must decide whether to press charges against the men and seek their extradition to Spain, Ms. Bernabeu said.
The crusading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón made legal history in 1998 when he secured the arrest in Britain of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet using a Spanish legal principle that crimes against humanity can be prosecuted anywhere. General Pinochet narrowly escaped extradition to Spain by pleading ill health. Since then, Spain’s High Court has received cases connected to rights abuses in several countries, including Argentina, Chile and Guatemala.
In the early hours of Nov. 16, 1989, members of the Salvadoran Army forced their way into the Jesuit priests’ residence on the campus of the Central American University in San Salvador. They ordered five of the priests to lie face-down in the garden and shot them, and then searched the house, killing another priest, the housekeeper and her 16-year-old daughter. But another housekeeper witnessed the attack.
A 1991 report by a United Nations-sponsored Truth Commission said Gen. René Emilio Ponce, then army chief, ordered the killing of one of the priests, Ignacio Ellacuría Bescoetxea. General Ponce ordered soldiers to leave no witnesses to the murder of Father Ellacuría, who had promoted peace talks between the right-wing military government and Marxist guerrillas.
The complaint filed on Thursday accuses former President Cristiani of helping cover up a crime against humanity. It accuses General Ponce and the 13 other former military officials and soldiers of crimes against humanity, murder and state-sponsored terrorism for their involvement in the slaughter.
Carlos Martín-Baró, whose brother was one of the priests killed, said the case had rekindled his hopes of justice. However, he said he was past seeking retribution for his brother’s murder and hoped any legal process would contribute to a wider fight against injustice in El Salvador.
Despite the witness account, the investigations and circumstantial evidence, efforts to make El Salvador’s military account for the killings have been largely fruitless. In a 1991 trial held in El Salvador, two military officials were convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The two were released under a 1993 amnesty.
Gisela de León, a lawyer with the Center for Justice and International Law in Costa Rica, said she was cautiously optimistic that Thursday’s court filing could result in the defendants’ facing trial in Spain.
“It will put pressure on the Salvadoran authorities and remind them that there is an international community out there and they have to respect its norms,” she said by telephone.
Even if the suspects were not extradited, the Spanish case could force a trial in El Salvador, Ms. Bernabeu said. Any prosecution would serve as some form of justice and help strengthen calls for a repeal of the country’s controversial amnesty law, she said.
“Remember, Pinochet died a criminal,” she said.
Jesuit Killings in El Salvador Could Reach Trial in Spain
Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Reprints Share
LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxYahoo! BuzzPermalink
By VICTORIA BURNETT
MADRID — Nearly 20 years after the Salvadoran Army killed six Jesuit priests in one of the most notorious events of El Salvador’s civil war, a criminal complaint filed in the Spanish High Court has revived hopes that those behind the massacre could face trial.
Human rights lawyers filed a complaint on Thursday against the Salvadoran president at the time, Alfredo Cristiani Burkard, and 14 former members of the Salvadoran military, for their roles in the killings of the priests and two female employees, and in the official cover-up that followed. International outrage over the murders proved to be pivotal in sapping American support for United States military assistance to the Salvadoran Army.“We hope this case helps to reawaken the memory and the conscience of El Salvador’s people,” said Almudena Bernabeu, a lawyer for the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, a human rights law center, which filed the case along with the Spanish Association for Human Rights.
The Spanish High Court must decide whether to press charges against the men and seek their extradition to Spain, Ms. Bernabeu said.
The crusading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón made legal history in 1998 when he secured the arrest in Britain of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet using a Spanish legal principle that crimes against humanity can be prosecuted anywhere. General Pinochet narrowly escaped extradition to Spain by pleading ill health. Since then, Spain’s High Court has received cases connected to rights abuses in several countries, including Argentina, Chile and Guatemala.
In the early hours of Nov. 16, 1989, members of the Salvadoran Army forced their way into the Jesuit priests’ residence on the campus of the Central American University in San Salvador. They ordered five of the priests to lie face-down in the garden and shot them, and then searched the house, killing another priest, the housekeeper and her 16-year-old daughter. But another housekeeper witnessed the attack.
A 1991 report by a United Nations-sponsored Truth Commission said Gen. René Emilio Ponce, then army chief, ordered the killing of one of the priests, Ignacio Ellacuría Bescoetxea. General Ponce ordered soldiers to leave no witnesses to the murder of Father Ellacuría, who had promoted peace talks between the right-wing military government and Marxist guerrillas.
The complaint filed on Thursday accuses former President Cristiani of helping cover up a crime against humanity. It accuses General Ponce and the 13 other former military officials and soldiers of crimes against humanity, murder and state-sponsored terrorism for their involvement in the slaughter.
Carlos Martín-Baró, whose brother was one of the priests killed, said the case had rekindled his hopes of justice. However, he said he was past seeking retribution for his brother’s murder and hoped any legal process would contribute to a wider fight against injustice in El Salvador.
Despite the witness account, the investigations and circumstantial evidence, efforts to make El Salvador’s military account for the killings have been largely fruitless. In a 1991 trial held in El Salvador, two military officials were convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The two were released under a 1993 amnesty.
Gisela de León, a lawyer with the Center for Justice and International Law in Costa Rica, said she was cautiously optimistic that Thursday’s court filing could result in the defendants’ facing trial in Spain.
“It will put pressure on the Salvadoran authorities and remind them that there is an international community out there and they have to respect its norms,” she said by telephone.
Even if the suspects were not extradited, the Spanish case could force a trial in El Salvador, Ms. Bernabeu said. Any prosecution would serve as some form of justice and help strengthen calls for a repeal of the country’s controversial amnesty law, she said.
“Remember, Pinochet died a criminal,” she said.
Published in 13/Nov/2008
Convenio de extradición con España incluye crímenes que enterró Ley de Amnistía
ReplyDeleteEl tratado que en 1997 firmaron El Salvador y España permite la extradición de acusados de crímenes de guerra, que es la tipificación del delito en la querella presentada este jueves ante la Audiencia Nacional española.
Con gran indignacion quiero denunciar el abuso de el Grupo Taca para con sus empleados en oficinas de Santa Elena. Ayer 13 de noviembre del 2008, por un periodo de 2 horas, fueron retirados de sus funciones diarias para asistir a una charla disque "sobre realidad nacional" y sobre el desarrollo politico venezolano.
ReplyDeleteAl principio los exponentes fueron presentados por sus nombres sin identificarlos directamente a ninguna organizacion, sin embaro, durante el desarrollo de la charla, los que tenemos conciencia social, notamos de inmediato de quienes se trataba. Ademas de los videos que mostraro que claramente los identificaba. Esto se pudo comprobar al final de la charla cuando uno de los expositores revelo el sitio web de la organización a la que representa para que nosotros, "deseosos de seguirles la jugada" la visitaramos: www.fuerzasolidaria.org
La VP de Recursos Humanos de TACA se puso al fondo del salon en posicion de directora de colegio, en un planton serio y de vigilante propio de nuestra extinta Policia de Hacienda. Que poca facha para alguien de su altura.
Si bien TACA esta en todo su derecho de planificar las charlas que se le antojen orientar a sus empleados y darles mejores herramientas para desarrollar sus funciones, considero esta actividad de POCO CONTENIDO ETICO, de BAJESA INTELECTUAL y sobre todo, de atentando a las libertades democraticas de todos los que ahi se encontraban. Poco hizo falta que pidieran el voto por ARENA.
Es una verdadera lastima y causa una gran indignacion. Ahora, si esto se da en una empresa con el tamaño y prestigio de TACA, ¿qué puede estar sucediendo en otras empresas familiares ligadas directamente (lacayos) al partido ARENA? ¿Es de esta forma como se hace democracia en un pais lleno de liberdades?
Es necesario que se hagan las denuncias!!!!! No mas intimidación, no mas violación de mis derechos de elección y libre pensamiento, no mas abusos de autoridad y prepotencia!!!!
Por fin se hara justicia! y monsenior Romero? que lo lamba un sapo!estamos mas que contentos y deberiamos hacer fiesta de que estos seniores sean juzgados por tribunales internacionales! ya que en nuestro pais siempre han bloqueado el sistema de justicia los mismos asesinos! ya se les acabo el recreo a estos seniores la dolce vita que llevaban ya no existe les llego su dia chompipes!
ReplyDeleteArzobispo salvadoreño contra juicio a ex presidente de ese país
ReplyDeleteap / SAN SALVADOR
El arzobispo capitalino Fernando Sáenz Lacalle rechazó ayer domingo que se inicie una querella en España contra el ex presidente salvadoreño Alfredo Cristiani y 14 jefes militares por el asesinato en 1989 de seis jesuitas y dos empleadas domésticas en El Salvador. El prelado católico calificó el asesinato como “un crimen espantoso”, pero dijo que teme que “abrir este caso en los tribunales de otro país, no ayudará en el proceso de reconciliación interna”. Sáenz Lacalle también defendió al ex mandatario salvadoreño. “Tengo la seguridad absoluta de que el presidente Cristiani no estaba enterado ni dio la orden de esto (del asesinato), es más, se hizo presente en el funeral de los padres jesuitas”, afirmó. Recordó que Cristiani “con su firma se puso fin a la guerra (y) ordenó la investigación” de la matanza. Manifestó que respeta el derecho de la congregación jesuita de entablar cualquier proceso, pero sostuvo que en todo caso, “creo que las cosas de El Salvador deben de resolverse en El Salvador”.