The Master's Thesis That Just Delayed a Genocide Trial

I spoke to Kathy Gilsinan with The Atlantic yesterday for her article on The Master's Thesis That Just Delayed a Genocide Trial. I can't imagine what it feels like for the victims and survivors of the genocide in the Guatemalan highlands to have to go through all these legal proceedings yet again. They certainly have my respect.

As I said yesterday, however, I hope that the prosecution and other sympathetic parties had warned them about the likely outcome of Monday's opening day of the retrial. I'm not pleased that judge Judge Valdez was recused, but at the same time I wasn't surprised when it happened.

In this case, Allison said, the defense had a legitimate argument. “It’s not that she wrote about theoretically the charges of genocide or even about someone else, but [Valdéz's thesis] is about genocide in Guatemala at the time the defendant was in charge. ... She would make a better expert witness for the prosecution, rather than an impartial judge who’s hearing the evidence for the first time.”

The panel of judges could have said that the last-minute maneuvering by Rios Montt's defense team was an act of bad faith and then proceeded, but that seems to have been grounds for the CC or appellate court for a mistrial of sorts. Instead, they voted three-to-two to accept the judge's removal from the proceedings.

You can read the article here.