“He was present at the meeting where the crime was coordinated and authorized its execution,” says the accusation against the former president.
The Prosecutor’s Office of El Salvador formally accused the former president on Monday Alfredo Cristiani to be responsible for the massacre of six Jesuit priests and two womencommitted by the Salvadoran Army in 1989, in the context of the civil war (1989-1992).
According to the institution of the Judiciary, the investigations show that former president Cristiani (1989-1994) “was present at the meeting where the crime was coordinated and authorized his execution.”
In addition to the former head of state, there are seven other people accused of the crimes of “homicide, acts of terrorism, and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.”
#CaseJesuits I This day, the Accusation Opinion has been presented against the defendants in the murder of the Jesuits. It appears in the investigation that the former president Alfredo Cristiani was present at the meeting where the crime was coordinated and authorized his execution. pic.twitter.com/JlHCxsjcBg
— Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador (@FGR_SV) June 5, 2023
The investigation into the ‘Jesuits’ case has determined that former President Cristiani and Father Ignacio Ellacuria, rector of the Jose Simeon Canas Central American University (UCA) at the time, argued several phone calls prior to the massacre.
The murder of the Jesuits and two collaborators occurred in the early morning of November 16, 1989 on the UCA campus, in the midst of a guerrilla offensive on San Salvador.
The executors were members of the now banned Atlacatl battalion and have also been charged. They are Juan Rafael Bustillo, Juan Orlando Zepeda, Rafael Humberto Larios, Inocente Orlando Montano (convicted in Spain), Carlos Camilo Hernandez and Nelson Ivan Lopez, reported the newspaper El Salvador.
The victims were the Spanish-Salvadoran Ignacio Ellacuria (Rector of the UCA), the Spaniards Ignacio Martin Baro (Vice Rector), Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez and Juan Ramon Moreno, as well as the Salvadorans Joaquin Lopez, Elba Ramos and their daughter Celina, then younger.
The Attorney General’s Office has also ordered the confiscation of the assets of former President Cristiani, since he is also accused of corruption crimes during his government.
Source: RT
