Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz has issued an international arrest warrant seeking the extradition from Canada of Jorge Sosa Orantes (here and here). Sosa is a former Guatemalan Kaibil allegedly involved in the 1982 Dos Erres massacre. He is currently being held without bail in Canada while they decide what to do with him. He also faces charges of lying on his US citizenship application.
Sosa is the ninth person sought by the Spanish National Court in connection with crimes committed during the Guatemalan conflict. The courts seek to try Sosa and others under the legal concept of universal jurisdiction — "the idea that crimes such as torture and genocide are so heinous they can be prosecuted here if the government of the country where those crimes were allegedly committed fails to probe them."
While I would prefer to see Sosa face charges in his native Guatemala where his crime were committed, trying him for crimes against humanity in Spain sure beats using an immigration violation to punish him (see kaibil Jordan).
And in other Guatemala news, a group of independent lawyers has become the second group to challenge the Colom-Torres divorce which will probably delay the judge's decision several days.
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