Guatemala: sufficient evidence to charge ex-military dictator with genocide Judge Patricia Flores said that the information presented by the prosecution showed that Rios Montt, 85, should answer to charges of orchestrating the destruction of native Maya villages during the country's civil war. Judge Flores ordered that Rios Montt be placed under house arrest. Rios Montt, known for his "scorched earth" campaign against Guatemala's leftist rebels, now looks set to have to answer charges that his regime was responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of people. The hearing was the first since Rios Montt lost the congressional immunity that shielded him from prosecution for years. Guatemala's truth commission estimates that some 200,000 people were killed in the country's 36-year civil war that ended in 1996. Some of the worst atrocities are said to have taken place during Rios Montt's rule. The UN-backed group - the Historical Clarification Commission - found that the government was guilty of a deliberate campaign of genocide against the mostly poor, indigenous massacre victims, many of whom were caught in the crossfire as the government battled leftist rebels.