17 Focused on What Matters One night in mid-November 1989, during El Salvador’s civil war, soldiers entered the campus of the Jesuit university in the capital and brutally executed six priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter. The Jesuits, including the university’s rector, Ignacio Ellacuria, had been outspoken in condemning the government’s human rights abuses; nonetheless, government officials claimed the Salvadoran military wasn’t responsible and publicly blamed the FMLN rebels for the massacre. FacinginternationalpressureandincreasedscrutinybytheUnitedStates,whichhadbeenproviding it with military support for a decade, the Salvadoran government was forced to investigate. At the trial, two military men were convicted, but the direct perpetrators, who had confessed, were acquitted. High-level officers who plotted the massacre remained free.When the country’s civil war ended, the ruling party passed an amnesty law; the convicted men were released. The Center for Justice and Accountability has been working to bring those who ordered the murders to justice. In 2008, it filed a criminal case in the Spanish National Court against former Salvadoran President Burkard and 14 former military officers and soldiers. Because several of the priests were Spanish citizens, the court has jurisdiction to prosecute their murderers under Spanish law. In 2011, the accused were indicted and charged with crimes against humanity and state terrorism. The court later charged six additional individuals and issued international arrest warrants. In2009,MintzLevinbeganhelpingtheCenterforJusticeandAccountabilitywithrelevantarchival research; soon after, Mintz Levin began work on the case of Colonel Inocente Orlando Montano, one of the top military commanders responsible for ordering the massacre. The center’s search for the defendants in the case led to the discovery that Colonel Montano had moved to Everett, Massachusetts more than 10 years earlier.The Department of Homeland Security uncovered that he’d falsified his immigration application and indicted him. In September 2012, Montano pled guilty to six counts of immigration fraud and perjury, and he is now awaiting sentencing. Because he allegedly committed the fraud to escape justice for the Salvadoran atrocities, the judge may consider an “upward departure” from federal sentencing guidelines. Mintz Levin attorney Helen Gerostathos Guyton worked with attorneys Michael Gardener, Ella Shenhav, and Eric Blythe, as well as Project Analyst Colton Heward-Mills and others at the firm, to advise the center on its role in the sentencing process and to collect and submit witness impact statements. The firm is also providing the organization with advice on the extradition process. Colonel Montano may eventually be extradited to Spain to face trial for his alleged involvement in the massacre—a development that may help the victims and their relatives find the justice they’ve been denied. Shining a Light on Truth Securing Justice for Crimes Against Humanity Mintz Levin helped us understand the extradition process and bring information about Colonel Montano’s human rights record to the court’s attention. Working with this dedicated team of attorneys has been a dream. Carolyn Patty Blum Senior Legal Advisor Center for Justice and Accountability