After months of waiting, the El Mozote case resumes after an appeal for annulment filed in June by the former military accused was rejected. This decision allowed new witnesses and victims´ relatives to finally render their statements about the episode before the presiding Judge of El Mozote massacre case. Public hearings are being resumed today, September 21, before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador.

The appeal filed by the defense argued that the process could not go any further since the victim´s representatives had not provided satisfactory evidence to prove their lawful interest in the litigation. The appellate court, in this regard, stated that the legal interest is satisfied once the kinship is documented and, therefore, legal representation is satisfactorily instituted.

Former military men are accused of murder, rape, aggravated damages and acts of terrorism, among others, against more than 1,000 people. Surviving relatives of victims that died during the horrifying massacre – which took place between 11 and 13 December 1981 in the village of El Mozote- have been awaiting justice for more than thirty years now.

DPLF will continue to monitor and report on the progress in this historical case.