The Salvadoran attorney general promised to prosecute those responsible, to bring justice "in the face of these vile murders". | Photo: EFE

San Salvador, January 6 (RHC)-- The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador has ordered the reopening of the case of the massacre of six Jesuits and two women, which occurred in 1989, for which the military was accused as perpetrators.

The Constitutional Chamber agreed with Salvadoran Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado, who requested an injunction against a resolution issued by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, in 2020, which dismissed the charges against the implicated soldiers.

The judicial entity pointed out in its ruling that the decision of the Criminal Chamber resulted in "the violation of the rights to jurisdictional protection (...) and to know the truth, for having unjustifiably and unconstitutionally applied a cause for extinction of criminal responsibility."

He maintained that the massacre of the Jesuits, which occurred in the context of the civil war that the Central American nation lived through (1980-1992), is a crime "against humanity", which is "imprescriptible."

The Attorney General, after learning of the ruling, announced on Wednesday that "the case will be reopened."   "For years, so many national and international voices demanded justice in the Jesuit case," said Delgado, adding: "We will pursue those responsible, to achieve justice for these vile murders."

The six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter were assassinated on November 16, 1989 by members of the now outlawed Atlácatl battalion on the campus of the Central American University (UCA).

In 1991, a San Salvador court tried nine members of the military as perpetrators, but did not act against the masterminds, who, according to humanitarian organizations, were high-ranking military officers of the time.