SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION OF MONSIGNOR GERARDI, SENIOR HUMAN RIGHTS FIGURE, IN GUATEMALA CITY
Press Release
SG/SM/6540
CA/15
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION OF MONSIGNOR GERARDI, SENIOR HUMAN RIGHTS FIGURE, IN GUATEMALA CITY
19980427 Following is the text of a statement attributable to the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms the assassination last night of Monsignor Juan Gerardi Conedera, Coordinator General of the Human Rights Office of the Archbishopric of Guatemala.
Monsignor Gerardi was assassinated in his residence in Guatemala City. The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) is monitoring closely the investigation conducted by the authorities. The Secretary-General hopes that full light will soon be brought on the circumstances and motivation behind this brutal act.
Monsignor Gerardi was a senior figure in the struggle for human rights in Guatemala and a participant in the peace negotiations that culminated in December 1996. During the past three years, he was one of the driving forces behind the Interdiocesan Project for the Recovery of the Historic Memory. The Project has produced a well-documented report, "Guatemala: Never Again", which depicts through accounts of the victims the violence of 36 years of armed conflict in Guatemala. This report was presented to the public on 24 April at the Metropolitan Cathedral in a massively attended act, at which Monsignor Gerardi delivered an impassioned speech in favour of truth, social justice and national reconciliation.
The Secretary-General expresses his most sincere condolences to the family of Monsignor Gerardi, his colleagues of the Human Rights Office of the Archbishopric, and the Catholic Church of Guatemala.
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