On September 8, 2010, a Guatemalan judge ruled that three soldiers charged in connection with a 1982 peasant massacre at Dos Erres that left more than 260 dead would face trial. The charges against the soldiers were based on the findings of a Truth Commission investigation monitored by the UN and completed in the late 1990s, which uncovered vast human rights abuses. In July 2011, four former Guatemalan soldiers pleaded not guilty to war crimes charges as the first war crimes trial over the 1982 Dos Erres massacre began. One month later, a Guatemalan court convicted and sentenced the soldiers to 6,060 years in prison each on war crimes charges related to the massacre. The men were ultimately held accountable for only 201 deaths.

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Learn more about Guatemala and the 1982 Dos Erres massacre from the JURIST news archive.

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