Justice is blind they say. Sometimes patient too. I wonder how much traveling certain Bushistas will be doing when they're out of office. They should check with Pinochet on how that can work out sometimes. War crimes are forever, BJs are fleeting...
U.S. jury holds ex-colonel responsible for torture in El Salvador's civil war
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A jury held a former Salvadoran Army colonel responsible for murder and torture during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s and ordered him to pay $2 million US in damages.
The federal court jury's verdict Friday came in a lawsuit filed by five current or former Salvadorans who say they were tortured or had family members killed by soldiers under the command of Nicolas Carranza.
The jury agreed with four of Carranza's accusers and awarded $500,000 for each plaintiff, or $2 million total, in compensatory damages.
The jurors could not reach a verdict in the fifth case, and Judge Jon McCalla told them to continue deliberations. The jury will also consider whether to award punitive damages.
"The amount of money doesn't matter; we're here to get justice for our clients," said Matt Eisenbrandt, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. "We've gotten some justice for them today."
The lawsuit accused Carranza, who has lived in Memphis since 1985, of failing to stop crimes against humanity when he was a top commander of El Salvador's security forces... http://tinyurl.com/aok5u
*