Former Soldiers Arrested for sexually abusing 36 Indigenous Women in Guatemala

  A group of former soldiers who were part of it were accused of several atrocities during the 1960-1996 war in Guatemala, in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared.

Guatemala City: Five former soldiers were sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday for sexually assaulting 36 indigenous women during the country's civil war.

"We judges strongly believe the testimony of women who have been sexually abused," Judge Gervi Sical said in a ruling against five former members of the Guatemalan Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PAC).

The group was accused of numerous atrocities during the 1960-1996 war when an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared.

Sical added that the sentences were handed down on human rights charges.

Five men - siblings Benvenuto and Bernardo Ruiz, aged 63 and 57, and relatives Damian, Gabriel and Francisco Cuxum, all in their 60s - heard the verdict in a videoconference at the prison in the capital where they were being held for criminal activity. . 1981 and 1985 near the town of Rabinal, north of Guatemala City.

The population of the Rabinal was severely affected by the war. A mass grave containing more than 3,000 bodies has been found in the area.

Thirty-six women have come under fire in recent decades for alleged sexual violence at the time.

The trial began on January 5, after 10 years of first-ever complaints.

Prior to the sentencing, some of the victims, accompanied by activists, held a ceremony with flowers and candles in the Torre de Tribunales, a historic center of Guatemala City.

"When I was 19 I was taken to a (military) cell and raped by soldiers, but the only ones who should be blamed are those who guard our neighborhood," Margarita Siana, 59, told AFP.

"I suffered a lot" in the army for three months, adds a woman.

In addition to these beatings, some were perpetrated in front of family members, according to the victims' testimony, with many indigenous women being raped after the murder or disappearance of their husbands.

"It still hurts us, we don't lie," said another woman, Pedrina Lopez.

Relatives of the former soldiers protested in another part of the court, denouncing what they called "false allegations" and demanding their freedom.

"It has also been pointed out that sexual violence during the civil war was a tactic used (in the state of Guatemala)," said Lucia Xiloj, a lawyer for other women.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala said on Twitter that the sentence was "a milestone in the realization of the real rights, justice and compensation for victims of sexual violence during the war."