World

Guatemalan Court Sentences 3 Soldiers for 1998 Murder of Bishop

By DAVID GONZALEZ

In a verdict human rights advocates hailed as a bold strike against official impunity, a Guatemalan court sentenced three military men to 30 years in prison yesterday for the 1998 murder of a Roman Catholic bishop. The panel also ordered that three other high-ranking officers be investigated for possible complicity.

Bishop Juan Gerardi, 75, who led the Archbishop's Office on Human Rights, died when his skull was crushed with a concrete block two days after releasing a report that blamed the military for most of the 200,000 killings in Guatemala's 36-year civil war. Prosecutors had argued that he was killed to prevent any trials over wartime atrocities.

Disrael Lima, a retired colonel and former head of military intelligence, was found guilty along with his son, Capt. Byron Lima, and Sgt. Major José Obdulio Villanueva, a former presidential bodyguard. Their lawyers plan to file an appeal.

''The verdict that this was an extrajudicial killing means it was a political crime,'' said Frank La Rue, the director of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action, which this week filed a lawsuit accusing former junta leaders of genocide. ''There is still a long way to go to get justice in Guatemala, but this is a good step and a brave step.''

The verdict, which a three-judge panel issued in a courtroom packed with human rights advocates, diplomats and members of the clergy, also resulted in a 20-year sentence for the Rev. Mario Orantes, a priest who helped cover up the murder. A fifth defendant, the cook at the bishop's residence who was said to have allowed the killers into the house, was acquitted.

News of the verdict buoyed many local and international human rights groups that have long tried to bring to justice the military officers who waged a bloody war against leftist insurgents and civilians alike.

International rights groups also hailed the verdict as an important step forward after the accords that ended the civil war in 1996. Many important reforms of the legal system have yet to be carried out, they said, and the bishop's murder case was seen as a critical test.

''This is an important decision because so many Guatemalans said if justice cannot be attained in such a high-profile case, what hope is there at all for the justice system in Guatemala,'' said Tracy Ulltzeit-Moe, a researcher with Amnesty International.

The three years leading up to the trial had been marked by death threats against prosecutors, judges and witnesses, forcing several to seek asylum overseas. Shortly before the trial began in late March, a hand grenade was tossed into the home of Judge Jazmín Barrios.

Tight security surrounded the trial as more than 110 witnesses came forward with testimony that indicated military officials' growing fears about Bishop Gerardi's investigation into atrocities committed during the civil war. Their testimony pointed to the military's presidential bodyguard unit, a group that has long been accused of domestic spying and other abuses since the end of the war.

A former member of the presidential detail said the military tapped the bishop's phone during the months that he was preparing his report. A homeless man who slept outside the seminary where the bishop lived testified that military officers had paid him to report on the bishop's movements and that they later enlisted his help in altering the crime scene.

Defense lawyers, who had unsuccessfully argued that their clients had alibis for the night of the murder, accused the court of caving in to pressure and bribes from rights groups.

As he left the courthouse, Captain Lima continued to maintain that he was innocent.

''I am a good soldier,'' he said. ''I'll continue to fight to prove our innocence.''