Fourth Circuit rejects ex-Salvadoran colonel’s plea for immunity in Dutch journalists’ killings

A U.S. Fourth Circuit panel denied legal immunity to former Salvadoran colonel Mario Reyes Mena for allegedly ordering the 1982 extrajudicial killings of four Dutch journalists. The court ruled that acts violating international norms like summary executions cannot claim foreign official immunity, advancing a case under the Torture Victims Protection Act brought by the brother of one victim.