­­­­­­Survivors of Guatemala’s bloody civil war relived the massacre of relatives as they took the stand yesterday to testify against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is accused of allowing genocide during the 36-year conflict.

They came and they massacred my mother, my brother and my brother-in-law. They burned homes

Rios Montt, 86, the first ex-head of state to stand trial for crimes against humanity in his own country, for years was not prosecuted for alleged atrocities committed during his 1982-1983 rule, because of his protected status as a congressman.

But after leaving Congress last year, Rios Montt was ordered to face trial by a judge who found sufficient evidence linking him to the killing of more than 1,700 indigenous people in a counterinsurgency plan executed under his command.

On the second day of the landmark trial, civil war victims recounted horrific tales of watching their family members killed and their homes torched by soldiers.

“They came and they massacred my mother, my brother and my brother-in-law. They burned homes,” said Tomas Chavez, 45, in tears as he recalled the November 1982 massacre in Nebaj in the northwestern state of Quiche.

Diego Santiago, 83, echoed Chavez in describing an April 1983 massacre near the same village.

“We went to hide in the mountains. I managed to escape from the people who killed my wife,” he said, adding the army killed his 17-year-old son and set fire to homes.

Prosecutors allege Rios Montt turned a blind eye as soldiers used rape, torture and arson against leftist insurgents and targeted indigenous people in a “scorched earth” offensive that killed at least 1,771 members of the Mayan Ixil group.

The defence team argues that Rios Montt did not control battlefield operations and that there was no genocide in Guatemala.

Humans rights advocates and victims have welcomed the trial as a sea change for Guatemala.

“It’s a strong voice against impunity and a strong voice in favour of victims,” said Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights activist Rigoberta Menchu, who attended the trial. “We hope that from now on, we (the indigenous people) are accepted by Guatemala’s polarised society that carries with it the genocide of the past.”

Roughly 200,000 civilians, most of them of Mayan descent, were killed during the 1960-1996 conflict as a string of right-wing governments attempted to rid Guatemala of leftist guerilla fighters suspected of being in league with communists.

An additional 45,000 people went missing.