Trial for murder of four Dutch journalists in El Salvador postponed
The trial concerning the murder of four Dutch journalists in El Salvador in 1982 has been postponed until June 3, Gert Kuiper, brother of one of the murdered journalists, told NOS. The trial was supposed to start in El Salvador today. Kuiper and other surviving loved ones are already in the country.
Journalists Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Hans ter Laag, and Joop Willemsen were in El Salvador in 1982 to report on the civil war that was raging at the time for the now-defunct broadcaster IKON. Government soldiers intercepted them as they tried to enter guerrilla territory on March 17 and shot them dead. Last year, it was announced that, after over 40 years, there would be a trial.
One of the suspects is El Salvador’s former Defense Minister José Guillermo Garcia. The second suspect is Francisco Antonio Morán, who worked for a special police service, and the third is ex-colonel Mario Reyes Mena.
“It is a huge disappointment,” Kuiper told NOS. “We have been looking forward to it as family members. We had hoped for the recognition that it was premeditated murder and that the individuals would be convicted.”
The trial is postponed because one of the suspects’ lawyers couldn’t attend the hearing. “A legal trick that is often used in the more serious cases related to the civil war to prevent people from being punished,” Kuiper said. The IKON journalists’ relatives expected tricks like these to delay the trial, but not that it would be postponed for more than a month.
Sonja ter Laag, sister of Hans ter Laag, is also very disappointed, “You’re living towards the point that finally, finally the trial will start.” She doesn’t know yet whether she will return on June 3 for the new hearing date. “I feel like: if I don’t go on June 3, the hearing goes ahead, and they are convicted, I would regret it very much,” she said. “I still have to think about it carefully.”
