In 1999, a chilling document recording the fate of scores of Guatemalan citizens who were “disappeared” by security forces during the mid-1980s became public. Apparently written by Guatemala’s military intelligence, the 54-page document contains photos of 183 victims and coded references to their executions. During the two decades since the disappearances, no one has been held responsible for the crimes. Clinic students worked alongside the lawyers at the Fundación Myrna Mack (FMM), a Guatemalan human rights organization, to represent family members of 27 of the victims named in the dossier. The families sought to hold the Guatemalan state accountable for the disappearances of their loved ones and the failure of the state to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. The suit was filed in 2006 before the Inter-American system – the human rights enforcement arm of the Organization of American States (OAS). Since 2006, over two dozen clinic students worked on the Inter-American litigation. They traveled to Guatemala to meet with FMM attorneys, archival experts, and family members of the victims; prepared legal pleadings and testimony; participated in hearings before the Inter-American Commission (A video of the Death Squad Dossier hearing is available and listed under Case 12.590 -José Miguel Gudiel Alvarez and Others); and traveled to Guayaquil, Ecuador to attend a hearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. On December 22, 2012, the Inter-American Court issued its ruling (Spanish and English) in the case. The Court found that upper echelons of the Guatemalan military conspired with politicians and police to target and eliminate the “disappeared” victims due to their perceived political and social views. It ordered Guatemala to investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for the crimes, recover the victims’ remains, construct a national park dedicated to the memory of the victims, and pay more than $8 million in damages to the victims’ families. In accordance with Guatemala’s legal obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights, the Court’s orders are binding. For more information about the ruling, please visit our news page.