Justice Delayed: Trial for Murder of Dutch Journalists in El Salvador Postponed Again

April 23, 2025 – Netherlands – 

Over four decades after four Dutch journalists were murdered in El Salvador, the long-awaited trial meant to deliver justice has been delayed once more. The trial, initially scheduled to begin on April 23, 2025, has been postponed due to procedural issues, including unresolved legal motions. As of mid-May, a new date has not been confirmed, prolonging the search for accountability in one of the most emblematic cases of wartime impunity in El Salvador.

The journalists—Koos Koster, Jan Kuiper, Hans ter Laag, and Joop Willemsen—were killed on March 17, 1982, while reporting on the Salvadoran civil war. They were ambushed by the military while traveling in Chalatenango, a region heavily affected by the conflict. A 1993 UN Truth Commission report found that the ambush had been deliberately orchestrated by Colonel Mario Reyes Mena, then-commander of the Fourth Infantry Brigade.

The current trial involves three former military officials: General José Guillermo García, Colonel Francisco Antonio Morán, and Colonel Reyes Mena. García and Morán are in custody in El Salvador. Reyes Mena, however, remains in the United States, where he has lived for years. U.S. authorities have not yet extradited him, though a parallel civil lawsuit has been filed against him in Virginia under the Torture Victim Protection Act. That case was brought by the Center for Justice and Accountability on behalf of Gert Kuiper, the brother of one of the murdered journalists.

This trial marks a historic legal moment. It is the first time high-ranking Salvadoran officers are being prosecuted for crimes against foreign journalists during the civil war. Human rights advocates argue that it represents a chance to address systemic impunity that has plagued El Salvador since the war’s end.

While the delay is disappointing for the victims’ families and supporters of justice, it underscores the complex nature of prosecuting crimes decades after they occurred. Nevertheless, the trial’s progress—even if slow—signals a growing international commitment to accountability and truth, no matter how much time has passed.

Reference – 

https://nltimes.nl/2025/04/23/trial-murder-four-dutch-journalists-el-salvador-postponed

Murders of Dutch journalists in El Salvador closer to trial after 42 years of impunity

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/04/trial-for-murder-of-4-dutch-journalists-in-el-salvador-delayed/