Guatemala City, April 2 (RHC)--  Guatemalan coup-maker Gen. Jose Efrain Rios Montt, who was brought to trial for genocide, died on Sunday, local media reported.

Rios Montt, who was Guatemala’s de facto leader from 1982 to 1983 after staging a coup d’etat, was brought to trial for the murders of 1,171 Ixil Indians in the northwestern province of Quiche.

One of Rios Montt’s attorneys, Jaime Hernandez, told a local broadcasting station that the general died of a heart attack at his home about 6 am.

On May 10, 2013, Rios Montt – who had retired from the army – was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 80 years in prison, thereby becoming one of the first military leaders to be punished for such crimes in Latin America.

However, 10 days later the Constitutional Court, Guatemala’s top judicial body, annulled the sentence for mistakes made in the trial and ordered a new one.

At the time of his death he was being retried in absentia.

A few protesters gathered outside the National Palace in a square in Guatemala City holding placards saying: “There will be no forgiveness.”

On the square, they painted in red letters: “Rios Montt genocidal killer the people do not forgive, do not forget.”