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President of Guatemala refutes claims in Mayan genocide trial





Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina denies he ordered or participated in the killings of Mayan people during the country's bloody civil war.

Perez Molina, who was a major in the army, acknowledges he was in an area where a former soldier accused him of ordering the burning and looting of villages. But he says he was there to help civilians.

“I have nothing to hide. I did not participate in a single situation where someone died that was my responsibility,” Perez Molina told members of the media, the AP reported.

The allegations against Perez Molina came during the genocide trial of Efrain Rios Montt, a former president and dictator of Guatemala. He is accused of ordering massacres on two Mayan villages where 1,771 people -- mainly women, elders and children -- were killed

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