Guatemala ex-dictator can't seek presidency -court

GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 12 (Reuters) Guatemala's highest court has banned former dictator Efrain Rios Montt from future presidential bids, reversing its earlier decision that allowed the retired general accused of civil-war genocide to run in 2003.

Guatemala's constitutional court ruled on Tuesday that Rios Montt, accused of ordering massacres of entire indigenous villages at the height of the 1960-1996 war, could not run for president again, court officials said yesterday.

A 1985 constitution which cemented the Central American nation's return to democracy after decades of military rule, bans leaders brought to power through coups from running for president.

But the constitutional court ruled he could run in the 2003 election, allowing 80-year-old Rios Montt, who took power following a 1982 coup, to put his name on the ballot.

Rios Montt lost the election to businessman Oscar Berger, Guatemala's current president, but his candidacy stirred up wartime rivalries and raised fears of a return to the violence of a conflict that claimed some 200,000 lives.

Still a major opposition power broker, he has not said whether he plans to run again in the 2007 election.

''I have not asked to be presidential candidate,'' Rios Montt told newspaper Prensa Libre with regard to the court decision, but added, ''If the electoral court tells me no, I will start the whole process over again.'' Guatemala's electoral court has to sign off on all presidential bids. It backed the constitutional court in 2003.

A Spanish judge has called for Rios Montt's arrest on genocide charges and local prosecutors are studying evidence collected by local human rights groups to see if he can be tried at home.

REUTERS DKB DS1112