MB Civic

This is an important victory.  It is part of a long, hard-fought battle.  I am so proud of
Bill and Mary Anne Ford and their family
for persisting and persisting all these
years.  Bill, the brother of Ita Ford who was
one of the nuns raped and killed in El
Salvador on December 2, 1980, does not
give up in this pursuit of justice on behalf
not only of his sister but for all the people
of El Salvador.
Siempre,
Jane Franklin
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jbfranklins
———————————————-
From: Pamela Merchant [mailto:center4justice@cja.org]
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 4:43 PM
To: William P. Ford
Subject:
Press Release:JUDGMENT FINAL AGAINST GENERALS RESPONSIBLE FOR TORTURE IN
EL SALVADOR

Dear CJA Supporters:

We are pleased to announce that most of the more than $300,000 recovered from
former Salvadoran General Vides Casanova
has been distributed to the three plaintiffs
in Romagoza v. Garcia. In an extraordinary
gesture, all three plaintiffs, Juan Romagoza,
Neris Gonzalez and Carlos Mauricio, will
donate most of the proceeds to charity.

While the amount recovered is a small
fraction of the $54 million award, the
release of funds is significant because it
represents one of the first human rights
cases in U.S. history in which the survivors
have actually recovered monies from those
responsible for the abuse.

As always, thank you for supporting our
mission and our work. The press release in
English and Spanish follows.

Pamela Merchant
Executive Director

P.S. Please consider making a donation to
CJA so we can continue our work representing torture survivors and
building a worldwide constituency for
justice and accountability.
http: //www.cja.org/donate/donate.shtml

For Immediate Release
July 10, 2006
Contact: Matt Eisenbrandt
Phone: (415) 544-0444 x 304
meisenbrandt@cja.org
JUDGMENT FINAL AGAINST GENERALS RESPONSIBLE FOR TORTURE IN EL SALVADOR

OVER $300,000 SUCCESSFULLY RECOVERED
FROM FORMER MINISTER OF DEFENSE
FOUND LIABLE FOR TORTURE OF THREE
SALVADORANS

San Francisco, CA: With the judgment
against him now final, former Salvadoran
Minister of Defense Carlos Eugenio Vides
Casanova has been forced to relinquish
over $300,000 of his own funds for his
responsibility in the torture of three
civilians in El Salvador during the 1980s.

While the amount actually collected is only
a small fraction of the damages to which
the plaintiffs are entitled, this represents
one of the first human rights cases in U.S.
history in which victims have recovered
money from those found responsible for
abuses.

In May 1999, the San Francisco-based
Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA)
filed a lawsuit against Vides Casanova and
another former Minister of Defense,
General Jose Guillermo Garcia, under two
federal laws, the Alien Tort Statute (ATS)
and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). In 2002, after a four week trial, a
West Palm Beach jury found the generals
responsible for the torture of Juan
Romagoza, Neris Gonzalez and Carlos
Mauricio, and ordered them to pay
significant damages.

The generals filed lengthy appeals. On
January 6, 2006, the United States Court of
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta
upheld the verdict against them. The
deadline to file an appeal of that decision
to the United States Supreme Court has
now passed.

Following the verdict in 2002, CJA froze
over $300,000 in accounts held by General
Vides Casanova. CJA has also presented the
court with allegations that Vides Casanova
committed fraud by transferring other funds to his relatives after the filing of the
case to keep them out of the reach of the
victims.

The plaintiffs have stated that, after some
of the case expenses are covered, they
generously plan to donate most of the
money collected from the defendants to
support human rights, health,
environmental and education projects.
They plan to set aside the remainder for
treatment related to their torture and to
assist family members in need.

Plaintiff Neris Gonzalez said, “Although we
are happy that the generals have been
punished and made to pay for their crimes,
this case was never about money. It was
about justice. We had the unique
opportunity to show the world, on behalf
of all the people of El Salvador, that
Generals Garcia and Vides Casanova were
responsible for the brutality that we
endured. Now the courts of the United States have confirmed that they cannot
escape accountability.”

The suit, known as Romagoza v. Garcia, is
one of the only cases in which a jury in a
fully contested trial has found perpetrators
liable for human rights abuses under the
law of command responsibility. This
principle holds military commanders
responsible for abuses committed by
subordinates under their control when the
commanders knew or should have known
that abuses were taking place and failed to
take all reasonable measures to prevent
the abuses or punish the perpetrators.

CJA’s Litigation Director, Matt Eisenbrandt,
stated, “This victory is a landmark for
human rights litigation and for El Salvador.
The jury’s verdict in 2002 gave confidence
to the Salvadoran community, and sent a
signal that they do not have to accept the
impunity that exists in their country.
Without the Romagoza case, we could have
never filed other cases – including one
involving the assassination of Archbishop
Oscar Romero – that have forced officials to
confront the lack of accountability in El
Salvador.”

CJA, a non-profit human rights
organization that works to bring
perpetrators of human rights violations to
justice, was joined as co-counsel by Peter
Stern of the Morrison & Foerster law firm,
James K. Green, Professor Carolyn Patty
Blum, Professor Beth van Schaack and
Susan Shawn Roberts. Florida attorneys
Dave Gorman and John Thornton have
provided assistance in the collection phase
of the case.
________________________________

email: center4justice@cja.org
phone: 415-544-0444
web: http://www.cja.org

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