Summary: Victory in the landmark Sepur Zarco case as Guatemalan court finds two former military members guilty of the murder, rape and sexual enslavement of indigenous women

Guatemala City, February 26th 2016: Two former senior military officers have been found guilty of crimes against humanity involving murder, sexual slavery and other atrocities committed at the Sepur Zarco military base in Guatemala. Of the two accused, Lieutenant Colonel Esteelmer Reyes Giron, former commander of the Sepur Zarco base, was given prison sentences totaling 120 years and former military commissioner Heriberto Valdez Asig was given sentences totalling 240 years.

The history of the case goes back to 1982 when Guatemala’s armed forces repeatedly attacked the small village of Sepur Zarco, capturing and killing or disappearing male Q’eqchi’ campesino leaders who were seeking to obtain legal titles to their lands. For the six months after the disappearances and executions of male community leaders, soldiers raped many of the widows, often in front of children, and subjected them systematically to sexual and domestic slavery. In some cases these practices continued for up to six years.

With the support of a network of feminist organisations called Breaking the Silence and Impunity Alliance (Alianza Rompiendo el Silencio y la Impunidad), an SRT grantee, a process was initiated to bring the case to trial. More than 20 victims from Sepur Zarco testified in court about the abuses they suffered at the hands of the Guatemalan army between 1982 and 1988. The presiding judge Yassmin Barrios said that rape had been deliberately used at Sepur Zarco as a weapon aimed at destroying the local indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ community. The case is historic for being the first known example of the prosecution in a national court of the crime of sexual slavery during armed conflict as a violation of international humanitarian law. Paula Barrios, director of Mujeres Transformando el Mundo (MTM), one of the member organisations of Breaking the Silence and Impunity Alliance, said, “This sets a precedent at national and international level because the women survivors of sexual violence, sexual and domestic slavery are in front of a national court witnessing the hearings where those responsible for the crimes are being judged”.

See full reports on this case: http://www.ijmonitor.org/category/guatemala-trials

View photos from the trial