Guatemala throws out charges against ex-dictator
Guatemala City, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A former dictator, accused of human rights atrocities during Guatemala's civil war, will not stand trial for instigating a fatal riot three years ago, a court decided on Monday.
Former strongman Efrain Rios Montt, along with 16 of his supporters, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and inciting followers to riot in July 2003 to protest a legal ruling blocking his candidacy for president.
The court dropped all charges against Rios Montt after the public prosecutors' office said it had insufficient evidence to proceed. Raul Manchame, who was Guatemala's chief of police at the time of the street clashes, will have to stand trial, while the other 15 supporters were charged with minor crimes, prosecution lawyer Walter Robles told Reuters.
During the riot, supporters, many wearing ski masks and wielding clubs, smashed shop windows and held office workers hostage in a daylong rampage known in Guatemala as "Black Thursday."
Radio reporter Hector Ramirez died of a heart attack while running from stick-wielding rightists, some firing pistols, who were demonstrating in support of the general's Guatemalan Republican Front party, or FRG.
Robles, who represents Ramirez's family, said he will appeal the decision.
"This was a political failure, not a legal one," Robles said. "There is sufficient evidence that Rios Montt was the intellectual author of the disturbance in 2003." Rios Montt was finally allowed to run in the 2003 election, but he was soundly beaten, with many voters turned off by perceived corruption of his party.
On Monday, a small scuffle broke out in the courtroom between local journalists and the general's bodyguards when reporters tried to question Rios Montt after the trial.
Rights groups accuse Rios Montt of ordering the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians during his 1982-1983 rule, the bloodiest period of Guatemala's 36-year civil war.
Two lawsuits, one in Guatemala and one in Spain, have been filed against Rios Montt on charges related to the anti-rebel crackdown in the 1980s, but they are moving slowly in the courts.
Guatemala's civil war killed an estimated 200,000 people, mainly Maya Indians, before peace accords were signed in 1996.
