Several thousand Guatemalans gathered in the capital, Guatemala City, to mark the killing forty days ago of a Roman Catholic bishop and human rights campaigner, Juan Gerardi.

At an open-air mass, his successor, Bishop Mario Rios Montt, pleged to continue the fight for justice and peace.

Bishop Gerardi was killed at his home two days after he presented a report blaming the army for many of the atrocities committed during Guatemala's civil war.

The mass, illuminated by candles spelling out the title of his report "Never Again," marked the end of a week of events commemorating his killing.

A man has been arrested over the killing, but church officials have asked for his release, saying he has been used as a scapegoat.