Juan José Gerardi Conedera (27 December 1922 – 26 April 1998) was a Guatemalan Roman Catholic bishop and human rights defender who was long active in working with the indigenous Mayan peoples of the country.

Two days after he announced the release of the project's report on victims of the Guatemalan Civil War, Guatemala: Nunca Más!, in April 1998, Gerardi was attacked in his garage and beaten to death.

In 2001, in the first trial in a civilian court of members of the military in Guatemalan history, three Army officers were convicted of his death and sentenced to long prison terms.

On 21 December 1946, he was ordained a priest and served in several rural areas of Guatemala such as Mataquescuintla, San Pedro Sacatepéquez and Palencia, as well as in the capital city.

While serving as president of the Guatemalan Conference of Bishops, Gerardi spoke out openly about the Spanish embassy fire of 31 January 1980, in which 39 people lost their lives.

In 1988 the Conference of Bishops assigned Gerardi and Rodolfo Quezada Toruño to serve on the National Reconciliation Commission established by the government.

This later led to the creation of the Office of Human Rights of the Archbishopric (Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispado; ODHA).

[citation needed] Work began on the Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI) project, to collect the facts and history of Guatemala's long civil war and confront the truth of those years.

[citation needed] On 26 April 1998, two days after the publication of Guatemala: Nunca más, Bishop Gerardi was attacked and bludgeoned to death in the garage of the parish house of San Sebastian Church, where he was the pastor.

The bishop was so damaged in the brutal attack that his face was unrecognisable and identification of the corpse was made by means of his episcopal ring.

[citation needed] On 8 June 2001, three army officers: Colonel Byron Disrael Lima Estrada and Captain Byron Miguel Lima Oliva (who were father and son), and Sergeant José Obdulio Villanueva (a non-commissioned officer rank),[4] were convicted of Gerardi's murder and sentenced to 30-year prison terms.