Bar on Guatemala general upheld

The Constitutional Court of Guatemala has upheld a lower court's decision to suspend the presidential candidacy of the former military ruler, Jose Efraín Ríos Montt.

The Constitutional Court had originally ruled that Mr Ríos Montt could run for president.

But the country's second-highest court - the Supreme Court - later suspended his candidacy, after opposition parties appealed against it.

At the centre of the dispute is a law banning former military rulers from running for president.

Mr Ríos Montt - who has been accused of human rights violations - says the law does not apply to him because it came into effect after he was removed from power in 1983.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service