IHRC’s Giannini, Farbstein represent families of 2003 Bolivian massacre victims

On June 24, 2013, family members of those killed in government-planned massacres in Bolivia in 2003 filed an amended complaint, with extensive new allegations that the defendants, former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and former Defense Minister Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, had devised a plan to kill thousands of civilians months in advance of the violence.

The family members are represented by a team of lawyers, including Tyler Giannini and Susan Farbstein of Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, and lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights, Stanford Law School’s International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic, and the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

The complaint (PDF) seeks damages against the defendants for their involvement in extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity. Since the case was originally filed in U.S. courts in 2007, seven former Bolivian officials, including high-ranking military leaders and members of the Cabinet, have been convicted for their participation in the violence.

Read more on the Harvard Law School website.