Dutch journalist’s killer in El Salvador goes on trial 42 years later

El Salvador to put three suspects on trial for 1982 murder of four Dutch journalists Local media report.

Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Joop Willemsen and Hans ter Laag came to El Salvador in 1982 to cover the bloody civil war there for IKON TV. When they tried to enter guerrilla-controlled territory, they were ambushed and killed by government soldiers.

Two of them, former Defense Minister José Guillermo García and former Police Chief Francisco Antonio Morán, are Arrested two years agoMoran lived in the United States until 2016 but was later deported for his role in human rights violations in El Salvador.

The main suspect in the case is Colonel Mario Adalberto Reyes Mena, former commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade, who is believed to have ordered the murder. Although a 1993 UN investigation showed that he played a decisive role in the plot to murder the journalist, he has not been prosecuted until now. Truth-finding CommissionHe is currently still awaiting extradition to the United States.

Efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice have been thwarted for decades by the military. A lack of resources and personnel in El Salvador’s judiciary has also delayed action. Two of the men implicated have died.

Human rights groups Comunicarnos Foundation and the Salvadoran Association for Human Rights (ASDEHU) said the court’s decision was a “historic moment in the search for truth and justice.”