Swiss step up hunt for war criminals [View all]
Source: nternational Service of the Swiss Broadcasting Cor
... They are homing in on two figures in particular: Khaled Nezzar, the former Algerian defence minister suspected of alleged civil war offences, and ex-Guatamalan police chief Erwin Sperisen, accused of human rights abuses. ...
Sperisen, the former head of Guatemala’s police force from 2004 to 2007, and a Swiss-Guatemalan dual national, was arrested on August 31 in Geneva, where he had been living with his family since 2007, on suspicion of involvement in extra-judicial killings and other human rights abuses in the Central American country.
The ex-police chief, who vehemently denies the accusations, spent Christmas in Geneva’s Champ-Dollon prison, where he is being held in custody until February 26 amid on-going investigations.
A warrant for his arrest was issued in Guatemala in August 2010, along with that of 18 other former officials, including the former interior minister, Carlos Vielmann, who fled to Spain, and deputy director of police investigations Javier Figueroa, who was granted refugee status in Austria.
“Eventually there might be three trials running at the same time in three different countries and possibly others in Guatemala,” said Grant. ...
Read more: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Swiss_step_up_hunt_for_war_criminals.html?cid=34562748
Guatemala’s ‘Little School of the Americas’
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/3976-guatemalas-little-school-of-the-americas
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