El Salvador court frees Army officer behind Jesuit massacre

FILE PHOTO: Guillermo Alfredo Benavides, who is part of 17 former military personnel accused of killing six Jesuit priests in 1989, waits in court to be notified of Spanish judge Eloy Velasco's request to extradite to Spain, in San Salvador, El Salvador April 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A Salvadoran court released a retired high-ranking Army officer convicted of ordering the massacre of six Roman Catholic priests belonging to the Jesuit order during the brutal peak of the country's civil war decades ago, his lawyer said on Monday.

The ruling ordered the release of Colonel Guillermo Benavides because of his age and because he completed a third of his sentence in October, according to his lawyer David Campos.