Salvador Delays Release of 3 Held in U.S. Killings
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SAN SALVADOR — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear an appeal of a lower court decision granting freedom to three prisoners accused in the 1985 massacre of 13 people, including four U.S. Marines and two American businessmen.
A lower court had ordered the three men freed under terms of the 1987 Central American peace accord. That accord, signed by five regional presidents, grants amnesty to all political prisoners.
The lower court ruled the three men--William Celio Rivas Bolonas, Juan Miguel Garcia Melendez, and Jose Abraham Dimas Aquilar--committed a political act on June 19, 1985, when they allegedly opened fire on outdoor restaurants in San Salvador’s exclusive entertainment district.
Atty. Gen. Roberto Giron Flores appealed the decision Thursday, and Friday the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and suspended the lower court’s order granting amnesty.
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