As we reported back in January, Santiago Pedraz, the judge in the genocide case being heard in Spain, asked for evidence to be presented directly to him. This followed the constitutional Court in Guatemala blocking his attempts to extradite those accused from Guatemala and also the earlier fruitless outcome of a visit to Guatemala in June 2006 to hear witness testimony in the country.

Following his call a group of 38 genocide survivors, including Jesus Tecu Osorio, have been giving evidence before a court in Madrid. El Pais has been doing a good job of reporting on the hearings. Allan Nairn, a journalist who investigated the way in which the CIA aided and abetted the repression in Guatemala has also offered to testify.

A lawyer who heard the witness statements commented, "we all ended up crying". ["Hemos salido todos llorando", own translation] One wondered whether this wasn't just from the emotional impact of what was heard but also from the years of injustice the witnesses have suffered at the  hands of a judicial system which supposedly exists to protect them.