11th Circuit throws out $55 million verdict against Salvadoran generals News
11th Circuit throws out $55 million verdict against Salvadoran generals

[JURIST] The US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] has reversed a $54.6 million verdict against two retired Salvadoran generals for allegedly allowing torture and other abuses during a 12-year civil war in El Salvador. The court ruled Monday that the three victims had not proven circumstances that prevented them from filing the suit within the 10-year statute of limitations under the Torture Victim Protection Act [text] of 1991, which allowed US courts to decide cases involving torture in other countries. A jury convicted Salvadoran Gens. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova and Jose Guillermo Garcia, both of whom now live in the US, for allowing torture and other human rights violations during the civil war that ended in 1992. Read the court's opinion [text, PDF]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.