Rios Montt's genocide trial resumes in Guatemala, then recesses to give new lawyer time

GUATEMALA CITY – The genocide trial against former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has resumed after being suspended for 12 days amid appeals.

A three-judge tribunal reopened the trial Tuesday and ordered two public defenders to represent Rios Montt and his co-defendant, Jose Rodriguez Sanchez, after their lawyers abandoned the case, arguing the trial had been annulled.

Tribunal president Judge Yassmin Barrios also ordered that the testimony of four witnesses heard the first day of the trial must be repeated after Rios Montt won an appeal.

Rios Montt rejected his public defender and instead brought in a lawyer expelled by the tribunal but recently reinstated by an appeals court.

Barrios then recessed proceedings until Friday to give Rodriguez Sanchez's new lawyer time to learn the case.