Rios Montt - After the Conviction: "Accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, Ríos Montt was put under house arrest in January 2012 and formally indicted in March 2012. After a trial of nearly two months, he was convicted in May 2013 of having orchestrated a counterinsurgency campaign that led to the deaths of nearly 1,800 Maya Ixil Indians and the forced displacement of tens of thousands of others and of having allowed other crimes such as torture and rape to be committed with impunity. Ten days later, however, the Constitutional Court annulled the conviction of Ríos Montt for genocide on the basis of procedural irregularities and ordered a retrial. In October 2013 the same court ruled that Ríos Montt’s actions were exonerated under a general amnesty covering events from March 1982 to January 1986 that had been declared in 1986 by Mejía Victores to cover crimes committed during his own administration and that of Ríos Montt, in which he had served as defense minister.

"With a challenge to that decision pending, a new trial was scheduled for January 5, 2015. That retrial was then suspended when Ríos Montt’s counsel forced one of the members of the three-judge panel to recuse herself. Earlier in the January proceedings, the national forensic authority had determined that Ríos Montt was healthy enough to attend the trial after he had claimed that he was unfit to do so, and he was taken to the courtroom on a gurney. In July it was Ríos Montt’s mental health that was at issue as the national forensic authority concluded that the now 89-year-old’s cognitive faculties had deteriorated to the point that he was no longer able to understand the charges against him, raising the question of whether the trial, rescheduled for July 23, would be held. In August a panel of psychiatrists charged with evaluating Ríos Montt confirmed the earlier finding that he was suffering from dementia. After various delays and legal rulings, his retrial began in 2017. Because of his declining health, it was closed to the public, and he was not required to attend the proceedings. The trial was ongoing at the time of his death in 2018."

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Efraín Ríos Montt". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Jun. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-Efrain-Rios-Montt. Accessed 21 December 2022.