Suffering from the dementia of the ex-dictator Guatemalas will be judged, but without punishment

Former Guatematic dictator, 89-year-old Efrain Rios Montt will appear before the trial on charges of genocide, despite the fact that he suffers from dementia. Previously, doctors recognized him incompetent, but the court will nevertheless take place with some restrictions.

Mont, who headed the country in 1982-1983, is accused of giving an order for the mass murder of 1700 Mayan Indians. In 2013, the court found him guilty , but the verdict was canceled on procedural grounds.

The Air Force , citing a court order, reports that the process will be held closed and, if the defendant is found guilty, he will not receive punishment. In addition, as Reuters notes, he will not testify during the process.

Dementia is a syndrome in which there is a degradation of memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to perform daily actions, it resembles Interfax . This disease affects mainly the elderly, but is not a normal state of aging. Throughout the world, there are 47.5 million people with dementia, and 7.7 million new cases of the disease occur annually.

In May, the Hamburg prosecutor's office stopped the criminal prosecution of a 93-year-old former SS employee accused of war crimes, after the examination revealed a serious form of dementia from him.