GUATEMALA: EXHUMATION OF BISHOP GERARDI'S BODY ORDERED

Описание: (17 Sep 1998) Spanish/Nat

The body of slain Archbishop Juan Gerardi was exhumed on Thursday to try to determine if he had been bitten by a dog belonging to the priest jailed for the crime.

According to lawyers at the scene, the international team of forensic experts finally decided there was no evidence of any such dog bite.

The results of the autopsy put into doubt allegations that Mario Orantes, a Roman Catholic priest who lived and worked with Gerardi and his German shepherd played a part in the attack.

The exhumation of Bishop Gerardi's body was ordered on Wednesday by Judge Figueroa Medina.

Under heavy security, Gerardi's body was removed from a crypt at the Metropolitan Cathedral and taken to a hospital for X-rays.

It was then to be transferred to a morgue.

The Roman Catholic archbishop was clubbed to death on April 26, two days after he delivered a church-sponsored human rights report.

The report blamed the military and pro-government death squads for most of the deaths during Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996.

The exhumation is believed to be key in determining whether Gerardi was killed by a fellow priest Reverend Mario Orantes Najera, as prosecutors charge.

Orantes lived in Gerardi's residence at the time of the killing and owns a dog that reportedly responded only to his command.

Guatemalan experts did an official autopsy of Gerardi's body the day after the murder without noting any signs of dog bites.

But Spanish forensic experts who examined photographs taken during that autopsy found dog bite marks on the bishop's neck and hands.

The vicious murder of the 75-year old Roman Catholic bishop sent shock waves throughout Guatemala.

The exhumation was requested by the archbishop's human rights office, which planned to seek Orantes' release if there is no evidence of dog bites.

According to lawyers at the scene, there was absolutely no evidence of dog bites.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"All of the doctors, all of them experts, medical forensic doctors, they all analysed one by one all of the wounds, especially the head and facial wounds of the Monsignor - they've measured, analysed, taken photos.
Q. Any sign of wounds caused by the dog
A. Absolutely not."
SUPER CAPTION:Jose Toledo, Lawyer

Orantes may now be released.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Of course, at the moment it automatically weakens the reasons they had arresting and encarcelating Mario Orantes. It has now been established that there was absolutely no involvement of a dog in this matter. It automatically undermines the case."
SUPER CAPTION: Jose Toledo, Lawyer

Gerardi had been a controversial figure since the 1980s when he was exiled by the then president General Fernando Lucas.

He is the first bishop to be slain in Guatemala and his death is the first killing of such a high-ranking member since peace-accords were signed in 1996.

Ironically, Gerardi's successor is Bishop Mario Rios Montt, brother of Effrain Montt, the evangelical ex-dictator.

His brief regime in 1982 marked one of the bloodiest in Guatemala's prolonged civil war.

It is not known when the body of Bishop Gerardi will be returned to the crypt.

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