A man sells Guatemalan national flags in Guatemala City, capital of Guatemala, on Sept. 14, 2021. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica commemorated the Bicentennial of Independence of Central America on Sept. 15. Photo: Xinhua

Five former Guatemalan paramilitaries went on trial on Wednesday on charges of raping six women from the indigenous Achi group from 1981 to 1985 during the Central American country's decades-long civil war.

The paramilitary Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PACs) were created by the Guatemalan army during the conflict to control the indigenous population. Since the signing of peace agreements in 1996, they have been accused of serious human rights violations.

"The debate is going to start today, we can't postpone it," said Judge Yassmin Barrios, who presides over a "high-risk court" dedicated to cases of organized crime and corruption where the hearing is being held. She was speaking in response to a request of one of the defense attorneys that the hearing be delayed for another week. Such courts were created after a UN-backed anti-corruption commission CICIG pushed reforms to investigate organized crime and corruption. CICIG itself was dissolved in 2019 after President Alejandro Giammattei did not renew its mandate.

Prosecutors told the court they had at least 200 pieces of evidence, including testimonies and expert opinions, to present regarding the rapes, alleged to have happened in Baja Verapaz, a department north of Guatemala City. 

Several human rights groups hung up blankets and placed flowers outside the court in solidarity with the victims, of Maya origin.

The five former paramilitaries were captured along with three others in 2018.