Salvadorean generals face US trial

Two retired army generals from El Salvador have gone on trial in the American state of Florida on charges of torture relating to El Salvador's civil war.

The generals, Jose Garcia and Carlos Vides Casanova, who have been living in Florida since 1989, are accused of knowingly allowing the torture of unarmed civilians.

They are being sued for damages by three Salvadoreans under a law allowing people who have had their human rights violated to seek redress in the US courts for crimes, even if they were committed in a third country.

Two years ago, the generals were acquitted of any responsibility for the killing of four American nuns in El Salvador in 1980.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service