Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar is a judge. She was the president of one of Guatemala’s two High Risk Court Tribunals. A High Risk Court Tribunal is a kind of court that has authority in difficult cases. The cases are likely to cause people to become upset because they are related to politics or government.
In 2014, Barrios received an International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State.
Barrios was in charge of the trial of Efraín Ríos Montt, who ruled Guatemala with total authority. This trial was the first time a national court tried a former leader of a country for genocide. That trial decided that Montt was responsible for committing the crime of genocide against Ixil Mayans. The trial finished in 2013.
However, on May 20th, 2013, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala decided that the decision was wrong and changed the decision. It ordered the trial to start again, because of a disagreement over the judges. Officials said that Ríos Montt's trial will start again in January 2015. In April 2014, Barrios' authority as a judge was suspended for a year. This was because of a complaint against her by a lawyer who had a part in the trial of Efrain Rios Montt.
References
Other websites
2015 International Women of Courage Awards, U.S. State Department photostream on Flickr Secretary's International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State)