Guatemala's Forensic Institute rules Rios Montt unfit

Rios Montt ruled Guatemala from March 1982 to August 1983, as the country struggled with a bloody civil war that pitted right-wing regimes against leftist rebels.

He and his former intelligence chief, Jose Rodriguez, are charged with ordering the army to carry out 15 massacres of Ixil Maya indigenous people in northern Guatemala.

Rios Montt's opponents accuse him of implementing a scorched earth policy. His earlier conviction had been hailed as a landmark for justice in the Central American nation.

In 2013, Rios Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison for genocide and war crimes over these massacres.

However, Guatemala's Constitutional Court threw out the conviction on procedural grounds and ordered a new trial.

A new trial had been set for July 23, but the National Forensic Science Institute has determined that due to cognitive deterioration the 89-year-old would not be able to defend himself against charges that he was responsible for the killings of nearly 2,000 indigenous Maya.

"He does not have full use of his mental faculties and he is not capable of correctly understanding the charges against him," the institute said in a statement.

The conflict in Guatemala claimed as many as 250,000 lives.

av/jil (AFP, Reuters)