Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar

International Women of Courage Awards, 2014. United States First Lady Michelle Obama and Deputy Secretary Higginbottom With Dr. Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar of Guatemala

Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar is a judge.[1][2] She was the president of one of Guatemala’s two High Risk Court Tribunals.[2] A High Risk Court Tribunal is a kind of court that has authority in difficult cases. The cases are likely to cause people to become upset because they are related to politics or government.[3]

In 2014, Barrios received an International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State.[4][5]

Barrios was in charge of the trial of Efraín Ríos Montt, who ruled Guatemala with total authority.[2] This trial was the first time a national court tried a former leader of a country for genocide.[6][7] That trial decided that Montt was responsible for committing the crime of genocide against Ixil Mayans. The trial finished in 2013.[8]

However, on May 20th, 2013, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala decided that the decision was wrong and changed the decision. It ordered the trial to start again, because of a disagreement over the judges. Officials said that Ríos Montt's trial will start again in January 2015.[9][1] In April 2014, Barrios' authority as a judge was suspended for a year. This was because of a complaint against her by a lawyer who had a part in the trial of Efrain Rios Montt.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "2014 International Women of Courage Award Winners - International Women of Courage Celebration". Archived from the original on 2017-03-26. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Bios of 2014 Award Winners".
  3. 3.0 3.1 "AWIU » Introducing Judge Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar of Guatemala, a 2014 International Woman of Courage". AWIU. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  4. "US Honors International Women of Courage". VOA. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  5. "FITE Celebrates 2014 Women of Courage, Honored by First Lady". JoinFITE. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  6. Stearns, Scott. "US Honors International Women of Courage".
  7. "Ukrainian Euromaidan volunteer receives State Department's International Women of Courage Award".
  8. Mariano Castillo, CNN (10 May 2013). "Guatemala's Rios Montt guilty of genocide". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/10/world/americas/guatemala-genocide-trial/. Retrieved 16 March 2015. 
  9. "Guatemala Rios Montt genocide trial to resume in 2015". BBC News. 6 November 2013. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24833642. Retrieved 6 November 2013. 

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