( CNN ) -- More than three weeks of testimony in the genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt were nullified by a judge Thursday on procedural grounds , state-run media reported . The impact of the ruling on the trial -- which was nearing completion -- was not immediately clear . A three-judge Supreme Court panel had pushed forward with the trial of Rios Montt despite unresolved objections to procedures in lower courts . Judge Carol Patricia Flores ruled that because all of the issues at the lower courts had not been settled , the current proceedings are invalid , the state-run AGN news agency reported . The ruling in effect rewinds the legal process against Rios Montt to where it was in November of 2011 , in a pre-trial phase . Guatemala confronts a dark chapter . Flores called it a regrettable situation , saying the process had come to this point because the proper procedures were n't followed earlier , according to the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala , which had representatives present in the courtroom . The judge said she was aware that the ruling would not be popular , but that it does not mean that justice will not be done , the group reported . Standing trial alongside Rios Montt is Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez , who was head of intelligence in the early 1980s . The pair are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity . Prosecutors accuse them of ordering 15 massacres between 1982 and 1983 in the northwestern region of Quiche . More than 1,700 Ixil Mayans were killed in those operations , prosecutors say . 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 . His defense has argued that he never explicitly ordered the killings of the indigenous group .
Efrain Andrés Montt ruled Guatemala from 1979 to 1983 . He and another defendant are on trial , accused of genocide and crimes against humanity . His defense has argued that he never explicitly ordered the killings of an indigenous group . A judge has thrown out two weeks of testimony in his trial , citing procedural grounds .