Guatemala City , Guatemala ( CNN ) -- A Guatemalan judge Thursday declined to grant former dictator Efrain Rios Montt amnesty from genocide charges , paving the way for a trial . Montt 's defense team had filed a motion seeking amnesty last week . The judge argued that the country 's 1996 National Reconciliation Law , which coincided with the end of the country 's civil war , does not guarantee amnesty for those accused of human rights abuses . Secondly , the judge said , Guatemala is party to international treaties that obligate it to prosecute crimes of genocide . Rios Montt ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983 . He came to power in a coup and led a military junta while Guatemala was in a bloody civil war between the army and leftist guerrillas . The war did not end until 1996 , leaving more than 200,000 people dead and 1 million as refugees . Prosecutors argued that Rios Montt was aware of the repressive strategies that the military was using against anyone suspected of being a guerrilla , such as killings , forced disappearances and kidnappings , the state-run AGN news agency reported . The human rights abuse and genocide allegations against him come from his `` scorched earth '' campaign to root out insurgents in provinces heavily populated by indigenous populations . He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of more than 1,700 Mayan residents . During his rule , there were massacres in these provinces in which , according to the Guatemalan truth commission , between 70 % and 90 % of some villages were razed . The commission found that during this and other periods of the civil war , there were also reported cases of rape , especially of Mayan women . Journalist Maria Renee Barillas contributed to this report .
Efrain Rios Montt will face a genocide trial as planned . The former president was accused of ordering the massacre in which at least 1,200 people were killed and thousands more disappeared during his rule. During his rule , there were massacres in provinces with heavy indigenous populations .