Former Salvadoran Army officers convicted in 1982 murder of 4 Dutch television journalists

Three former Salvadoran military officers were convicted of a jury of five people on Tuesday night for the murders of four Dutch journalists during the Civil War of the Central American Nation. They received 15 -year prison sentences.

A jury composed of five women condemned the three murder men in a ray trial that began on Tuesday morning in the northern city of Chalatenango, said Oscar Pérez, lawyer of the founding foundation that represented the families of the victims. Pérez said prosecutors had requested minimum prison sentences of 15 years for the three.

The former Minister of Defense, the former Minister of Defense, José Guillermo García, 91, former Treasury Police Director, Colonel Francisco Morán, 93, and Colonel Mario Adalberto Reyes Mena, 85, who was the former Commander of the Army of the Fourth Infantry Brigade in Chalatango.

García and Morán are under police guard in a private hospital in San Salvador, while Reyes Mena lives in the United States. In March, the Supreme Court of El Salvador ordered the extradition process to begin to bring it back.

Pérez said that, in addition to the convictions of the former high -ranking officers, the judge condemned the government for delayed justice and ordered the commander in chief of the Armed Forces, President Nayib Bukele, to issue a public apology for the victims.

Dutch television journalists, Jan Kuiper, Koos Koster, Hans Ter Laag and Joop Willemson, had linked to the leftist rebels and planned to spend several days behind the reports of Rebel Lines. But Salvadoran soldiers armed with assault rifles and machine guns were ambushed and guerrillas.

Garcia was deported from the United States in 2016, after a judge from the United States declared him responsible for serious human rights violations during the first years of the war between the military and the leftist Farabundo Martí Guerrillas of the National Liberation Front.

The Men Prosecutor’s Office was reopened in 2018 after the Supreme Court declared an unconstitutional amnesty approved after the 1980-1992 war.

He moved slowly, but in March 2022, the relatives of the victims and representatives of the Dutch government and the European Union demanded that those responsible for killing Jan Kuiper, Koos Koster, Hans Ter Laag and Joop Willemson were judged.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, ​​welcomed the convictions.

“This is an important moment in the fight against impunity and in the search for justice for the four Dutch journalists and their relatives,” Veldkamp said in a message on social networks.

“Grateful for the authorities of El Salvador and all those who have worked tirelessly in this case,” he added.

According to the foundation communicating, Jan Kuiper died only two days before his 40th birthday and his colleague Hans Ter Laag wrote a letter to his girlfriend shortly before the fatal trip, saying: “Dear, this Wednesday, the guerrillas will take us to the released area. We go to Chalatenango, where the armed struggle is taking place. It is a very dangerous trip and must be secret.” “

Koos Koster studied theology at the University and published several books on international politics, said the foundation communicating us. The tombstone in his grave presents an image, made by his sister, who represents a biblical story and next to her the motto: “Survival forces.”

Joop Willenen planned to marry his lifelong partner, Yata Matsuzaki, in Mexico after his trip to El Salvador, he said.

The United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador, which was established as part of a peace agreement not negotiated in 1992, concluded that there was clear evidence that the murders were the result of an ambush established by Reyes Mena with the knowledge of other officials, based on an intelligence report that alerted about the presence of journalists.

Other Army members, including General Rafael Flores Lima and Sergeant. Mario Canizales Espinoza was also accused of participation, but died. Canizales supposedly directed the patrol that carried out the massacre of the journalists.

Juan Carlos Sánchez, from the non -governmental organization, a table against impunity, in comments to journalists, described the trial as a “transcendental step that the victims have expected 40 years.”

It is estimated that 75,000 civilians were killed during the Civil War of El Salvador, mainly by government security forces backed by the United States.

The trial was closed to the public.

• Murder
• El Salvador
• Netherlands