(MENAFN- Saudi Press Agency) Guatemala City Jumada II 08 1437 March 17 2016 SPA -- The genocide case against former Guatemalan military dictator Efrain Rios Montt resumed Wednesday despite protests from parties to the process according to dpa.
The ailing 89-year-old Rios Montt was represented in court by his lawyers.
Representatives of the victims had previously demanded the proceedings against the former general be separated from the process against his former intelligence chief Mauricio Lopez Sanchez.
Rios Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison in May 2013 for genocide and crimes against humanity. He was found to have ordered murders torture and forced displacements of indigenous peoples during his March 1982-to-August 1983 regime.
The genocide charges include the killing of 1771 members of the Ixil indigenous community in northern Guatemala allegedly ordered by Rios Montt.
The sentence was declared null and void a few days later due to procedural errors. Since then prosecutors have tried to reopen the process but their efforts have been repeatedly stalled.
A Guatemalan court ruled in August that Rios Montt should be retried despite any mental health issues. The former dictator's defence team had argued that he was senile and unfit to stand trial.
--SPA
02:31 LOCAL TIME 23:31 GMT
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