Criminal charges filed for 1989 murder of Jesuit priests in El Salvador

In April 2001, Amnesty International released a report titled, El Salvador: Peace can only be achieved with justice. In the report, AI argued against the amnesty law which has served as a shield for those responsible for human rights violations committed in El Salvador. The report also highlighted some key cases. One of the cases is the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, their cook and her teenage daughter in San Salvador by military personnel who were members of the Atlacatl Batallion. The Jesuits were at the forefront of those advocating a peaceful end to armed conflict, but government officials and members of the armed forces accused them of encouraging subversion.

Nine members of the Commando Unit of the Atlacatl Counterinsurgency Battalion went on trial between 26 and 28 September 1991. Seven were acquitted. A Colonel was found guilty of all the murders and a Lieutenant of the teenage girl. Both were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. Two of those acquitted of murder were sentenced to three years for lesser charges. On 24 March 1993 they were all released benefiting from the amnesty law approved two days before. However, those responsible for planning and ordering the murders were not prosecuted.

Nineteen years after the murder, on November 13, 2008, criminal charges were filed in the Spanish National Court by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and by the Madrid-based Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos en España, a Spanish Human Rights Association. The lawsuit charges 14 former officers and soldiers with crimes against humanity and former Salvadoran President and Commander of the Armed Forces, Alfredo Cristiani for his role in covering up the crime, under the principle of universal jurisdiction — the same principle on which the landmark case against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was based, which began in the Spanish National Court as well. For more information about the lawsuit, please refer to the CJA’s press release.

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