On June 9, the Guatemalan court sentenced 13 soldiers and one lieutenant to 40 years imprisonment for the 1995 attack on the Maya community of Xaman that killed 11 and injured 30. The Xaman massacre is one of more than 620 massacres attributed to the Guatemalan army during the 36 year civil war that ended in 1996. Judge Jose Luis Davila in San Pedro Carcha, Alta Verapaz province found the army patrol guilty of extrajudicial executions, and gave the men sentences higher than any ever given to members of the Guatemalan military accused of human rights abuses. Gustavo Meono, representative of the Rigoberta Menchu rights group, said the sentence was "a way of vindicating the rights and dignity of the victims." Following the ruling, defense attorney Elvido Coy Ibarra said the men were expected to appeal the sentence.
