Spanish human rights lawyers have filed a complaint against former Salvadoran president Alfredo Cristiani and 14 former members of the Salvadoran military for their involvement in the deaths of the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and the housekeeper's daughter almost twenty years ago and the resulting cover-up by the Salvadoran government. Alfredo Cristiani was president when the priests and the two women were murdered on the Central American University campus in November 1989. The priests were symbolically shot in the head for being a part of a group of intellectuals who openly criticized the Salvadoran government during the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992). Despite the investigations of and the international outcry over the murders, Alfredo Cristiani and those involved with the case have remained free due to the amnesty laws in El Salvador for those involved in war crimes during the Civil War. However, most of the priests who were murdered were Spanish, so the Spanish High Court may decide to charge them with crimes against the humanity and seek their extradition.Click here to read an article from the NY Times.
Click here to read an article from CNN.
- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator
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