Ex-paramilitaries stand trial for Guatemala civil war rape of 36 indigenous women

Indigenous women take part in the trial against five former members of the Civil Defense Patrol (PAC) accused of raping 36 indigenous women of the Achi ethnic group between 1981 and 1985, at the Supreme Court of Justice in Guatemala City, Guatemala January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Sandra Sebastian

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Five former Guatemalan paramilitaries went on trial on Wednesday on charges of raping 36 women from the indigenous Achi group from 1981 to 1985 during the Central American country's decades-long civil war.

The paramilitary Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PACs) were created by the Guatemalan army during the conflict to control the indigenous population. Since the signing of peace agreements in 1996, they have been accused of serious human rights violations.