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Guatemala ex-dictator Rios Montt appears in court where he faces genocide charges

Associated Press
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Former dictator Efrain Rios Montt enters the court room while he is carried on a stretcher and covered by a blanket in Guatemala City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Rios Montt was forced to attend his trail for genocide after the court gave him an hour to present himself to the courtroom. His attorneys had alleged that he could not attend due to health reasons but the court rejected the appeal. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) (The Associated Press)

An Ixil Indian woman, the relative of a civil war victim, attends the genocide trial of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt in Guatemala City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Rios Montt was forced to attend his trail for genocide after the court gave him an hour to present himself to the courtroom. His attorneys had alleged that he could not attend due to health reasons but the court rejected the appeal. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) (The Associated Press)

Former dictator Efrain Rios Montt enters the court room while he is carried on a stretcher and covered by a blanket in Guatemala City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Rios Montt was forced to attend his trail for genocide after the court gave him an hour to present himself to the courtroom. His attorneys had alleged that he could not attend due to health reasons but the court rejected the appeal. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) (The Associated Press)

Former Guatemalan dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt has appeared before a tribunal where he faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Rios Montt was carried into the courtroom Monday on a gurney, clad in pajamas and covered in a blanket.

The court had ordered the 88-year-old to appear after rejecting a defense motion that he was too frail to attend.

Judge Jeannette Valdez also rejected a motion to recuse herself from the case, calling it "a strategy to obstruct" the trial. The court was set to rule on other impediments introduced by the defense.

Rios Montt was convicted for the massacre of thousands during his 1982-83 regime in what was considered a historic 2013 ruling. But his 80-year sentence was later overturned and a restart to the trial ordered.