Guatemalan ex-paramilitaries sentenced to 40 years each in Maya Achi rape trial

Indigenous women from the Achi group participate in a Mayan blessing ceremony in front of the Supreme Court building ahead of the trial of former Guatemalan paramilitaries accused of raping 36 Achi women between 1981 and 1985, during Guatemala's decades-long civil war, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Cristina Chiquin

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -A top Guatemalan court on Friday sentenced three former paramilitaries each to 40 years in prison after they were found guilty of raping six Indigenous women between 1981 and 1983, the bloodiest period of the Central American nation's civil war.

The trial against the former members of the so-called Civil Self-Defense Patrol, armed groups recruited by the army, began four months ago.