After a year of deliberations the trial over the so-called ‘Curuguaty massacre’ in which 17 people were killed in an armed clash between police and squatting landless farmers in Paraguay’s Canindeyú department on 15 June 2012, the event that acted as the catalyst for the impeachment of former president Fernando Lugo (2008-2012), concluded this week. The tribunal found that all 11 of the peasant farmers that stood accused of inciting the deadly violence were responsible for the death of the six police officers that were shot dead that day, and issued heavy prison sentences. But the ruling has met with discontent not just from the accused but also from the wider Curuguaty community, which complains that the trial did not fully clear up the episode, particularly the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 11 peasant farmers who were also killed that day.End of preview - This article contains approximately 752 words.
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