A federal court will conduct a landmark evidentiary hearing in Fresno Aug. 24-27 to examine the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of San Salvador.

The lawsuit alleges that Modesto resident Alvaro Rafael Saravia played a key role in organizing the March 24, 1980 assassination. A former captain in the Salvadoran military, Saravia served Salvadoran right-wing death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson.

New evidence will be presented at the civil hearing to establish Saravia's liability for the assassination and to determine the amount of damages based on the impact of the archbishop's death. Saravia has gone missing and the hearing will be conducted in his absence under default proceedings.

Scheduled witnesses include Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a founder of Pax Christi USA; Maria Julia Hernandez, head of the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of San Salvador; Jesuit Father Jon Cortina; and Terry Lynn Karl, professor of Latin American studies at Stanford University. Robert White, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador at the time of the assassination, will testify via a videotaped deposition.

An amnesty law in El Salvador prevents cases from being tried in the Central American country. Attorneys for the non-profit Center for Justice and Accountability are pursuing means to use U.S. courts to hold accountable members of Salvadoran death squads who have immigrated the U.S. The lawsuit is based on the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act. The Center and Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of a plaintiff whose name they said remains undisclosed for security reasons.

Any conviction in a civil case would largely be symbolic and moral, but nevertheless serves the cause of justice, said attorneys. "The impunity of [Archbishop Romero's] killers has been borne by his people," said attorney Nicholas van Aelstyn of Heller Ehrman.

In separate investigations, the U.N. Truth Commission and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that Saravia actively planned the assassination. Saravia was detained in the U.S. in 1987 when Salvadoran prosecutors sought his extradition, but the Salvadoran Supreme Court later withdrew the extradition request.

The upcoming four-day public hearing will be held in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California with Judge Oliver W. Wanger presiding.

-- Ellie Hidalgo