They ask that the Salvadoran Army recognize authorship in the murder of Dutch journalists

San Salvador, 17 Mar 2022 (AFP) - Family members and humanitarian organizations asked this Thursday that the Salvadoran army recognize their participation in the murder of four Dutch journalists 40 years ago, during the Civil War (1980-1992), and that there be justice for the victims.” I want there to be an acknowledgment of this crime. I have the impression that political and military authorities still do not recognize this crime. It was no coincidence that they were killed, [they were] killed with intention,” Gert Kuipier, brother of Jan Kuipier, one of the deceased journalists, said at a press conference. In 1993, a Truth Commission created by the UN determined that Dutch journalists died in an ambush.According to the report of that commission, Colonel Mario Adalberto Reyes Mena, commander of the Fourth Infantry Brigade, decided to conduct the ambush, with the knowledge of other officers. “truth” and let there be “justice”.” I ask for recognition of what has happened, recognition that an ambush has been made, that they have been killed with intention, I want this to be said, I am not talking about money, it is not the most important thing,” Kuiper said Wednesday during a conversation with the AFP. sister of another of the murdered journalists, Hans Lodewijk ter Laag.In the 1982 crime, his colleagues Koos Jacobus Andries Koster and Johannes Jan Willemsen were also murdered.The murder of the four Dutch journalists was not investigated in El Salvador until recently. It was at the end of 2017 when the Public Prosecutor's Office opened a file after in July 2016 the Supreme Court of Justice repealed an Amnesty Law that had condoned the atrocities that occurred during the Civil War.” We feel that there is little will to advance the investigations of this case,” said Oscar Pérez, director of the Comunicandos Foundation, which together with the Salvadoran Association for Human Rights represent the families of the victims in the judicial process. - Important judicial process - The sister of Hans Lodewijk ter Laag will go on Friday to testify to the court of the city of Dulce Nombre de María, 78 km north of San Salvador, which is airing the case of the murdered journalists.” It's just to make it clear what my brother meant. I will also state in court that the (judicial) process is very important for the family,” the woman explained. At Thursday's press conference, the Netherlands Ambassador for Central America, Christine Pirenne, said that the murder of journalists “is a crime against humanity.” It has been 40 years of an open wound for family members, but also for Dutch society,” added Pirenne. Meanwhile, Kuipier considered it necessary that “public pressure be exerted within the country, but also from abroad that the authorities be pressured to bring justice.” The Salvadoran civil war left 75,000 dead and many losses to the national economy.ob/mav/dga —