Five former Guatemalan soldiers have been sentenced to 7,600 years in prison for their role in a village massacre that left more than 250 men, women and children dead.The men were charged with leading a group of soldiers in the attack on Plan de Sanchez in the Baja Verapaz region as they searched for leftist guerillas in 1982.
According to authorities, the men entered the rural area with heavy arms and explosives during the height of the civil war and killed hundreds of villagers.
"The accused, Luca Tecu, Mario Acoj Morales, Santos Rosales Garcia, Julian Acoj Morales, and Eucebio Grave Galiano are responsible as the material culprits of the crime of murder committed against the lives and integrity of the people of Plan de Sanchez," Judge Jazmin Barrios said in court.
"For that crime they are sentenced to 30 years of prison for each person, totalling 7,600 years in the penitentiary." Read More
