Accountability for Sexual Violence and Sexual Slavery in the Sepur Zarco Trial

After over 30 years since attacks by the Guatemalan military against the Mayan Q’eqchi community of Sepur Zarco, advocacy efforts by victims and civil society organisations led to the Sepur Zarco trial against Reyes Girón and Valdez Asig for domestic slavery, sexual violence and sexual slavery as crimes against the duties of humanity.

The film explores the foundations of the successful pursuit of accountability in the Sepur Zarco case: the active participation of victims and their representatives, the creative use of the Guatemalan Criminal Code, the innovative collection and use of a range of evidence at trial, the implementation of protective measures and the importance of external peer-to-peer engagement to support the prosecutors. The associated case note provides more detail about the case and the practices adopted.