The Ríos Montt case and universal jurisdiction

Abstract

This article analyses the inter-relationship of developments in international justice and the prosecution of Efraín Ríos Montt for the crime of genocide in Guatemala. International justice processes, particularly concerning the application of ‘universal jurisdiction’, contributed to the advancement of the case against Ríos Montt, in Spain and Guatemala. In turn, the prosecution of Ríos Montt influenced the interpretation and application of universal jurisdiction, with ramifications beyond the Guatemalan case itself. The article traces the prosecution for genocide of Efraín Ríos Montt in the Spanish National Court, and situates this particular case within broader currents and networks associated with prosecuting grave violations of human rights. The prosecution of Ríos Montt demonstrates that, rather than a simple case of global norms trickling ‘down’ to the (lower) local level, mutually constituted activities of the global and the local continually shape each other. The interconnections of national and transnational processes were key to the prosecution of genocide in Guatemala.