They order the arrest of former Salvadoran President Cristiani for the massacre of Ellacuría and the Jesuits

• Since 1989 El Salvador reopens the 'Ellacuría case'

• The accused of the Ellacuría massacre "There was a guerrilla group inside the Jesuit University"

A peace court in El Salvador ordered this Friday the arrest of former president

for the massacre of six Jesuit priests, five of them Spanish, and two women in 1989 in the context of the civil war (1980- 1992).

The Third Peace Judge of San Salvador

decreed this measure as a result of Cristiani's absence at the initial hearing of the process, which began this past Thursday, and due to the lack of legal representation appointed by the former Salvadoran president.

"I have no choice but to order the arrest,"

said the judge upon announcing the ruling, in which he also ordered that the process against Cristiani go to instruction.

The whereabouts of Cristiani, who signed peace in 1992 and came to power under the banner of the

There are

of the massacre of the religious, of which two have died and the process against them was dismissed.

On the morning of November 16, 1989, in the midst of the largest guerrilla offensive recorded during the Salvadoran civil war, an elite Army commando executed the priests and two women on the campus of the

The annulment of a 1993 amnesty law, by a 2016 constitutional ruling, allowed a peace court to order the reopening of the process in 2017 at the request of the UCA.

Various appeals filed by the defense delayed the beginning of the investigative proceedings.

is imprisoned in El Salvador ,

sentenced to

while the Spanish National Court sentenced in 2020 the former Vice Minister of Public Security Inocente Montano to 133 years and four months in prison.

The victims were the Spaniards

and the Salvadoran

the UCA worker

and her 16-year-old daughter,

Cristiani denies

Minutes after his arrest was ordered, the former president of El Salvador sent a statement: "The truth is that I never knew of the plans they had to commit these murders. They never informed me or asked me for authorization because they knew that I would never have authorized Father Ellacuría or his brothers were harmed," indicates the note shared by the former president's daughter.

It states that "the attorney general (Rodolfo Delgado) in bad faith and with clear disregard for the truth has publicly accused me of omission and cover-up."

"The murder of the Jesuit priests, Elba and Celina was a horrible act, it was a savage act. The victims of these and many other atrocities have the right to justice and the Salvadoran people have the right to know the truth, but the accusation of the Attorney General does not seek justice or truth, he seeks to harm those who they consider to be an inconvenient political opponent," he points out.

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