Former Soldiers Arrested for sexually abusing 36 Indigenous Women in Guatemala
A group of former soldiers who were part of it were accused of several atrocities during the 1960-1996 war in Guatemala, in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. Guatemala City: Five former soldiers were sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday for sexually assaulting 36 indigenous women during the country's civil war. "We judges strongly believe the testimony of women who have been sexually abused," Judge Gervi Sical said in a ruling against five former members of the Guatemalan Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PAC). The group was accused of numerous atrocities during the 1960-1996 war when an estimated 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. Sical added that the sentences were handed down on human rights charges. Five men - siblings Benvenuto and Bernardo Ruiz, aged 63 and 57, and relatives Damian, Gabriel and Francisco Cuxum, all in their 60s - heard the verdict in a videoconference at the prison in the capital where they were being held for c