A new judge has been assigned to the genocide trial of Efrain Rios Montt, a former president and dictator of Guatemala, a move that could send the case back to square one.

Rios Montt went on trial in March for ordering massacres on two Mayan villages where 1,771 people -- mainly women, elders and children -- were killed. But the new judge has ordered proceedings to start anew, the Associated Press reports.

More than 200,000 people, mostly Mayans, were killed or went missing during Guatemala's civil war between 1990 and 1996.

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Guatemala high court orders ex-dictator’s genocide case to judge who supports annulment (AP 4/23)

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