US embassies abroad to

The brains of Macmillan’s operation, Mathias is the “partner” the Zimbabwean smuggler referred to. A Canadian national, Mathias allegedly launders money for people all over the world, from Russians to African politicians. Mathias, who is based in Dubai, uses a web of companies and refineries to make sure money “gets moved around”, as he describes it.“You’ve sold it to a refinery and the money got paid in the bank account. So, it’s very clean that way,” he told Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters.

According to Mathias, he “moves” gold valued at between $70mn and $80mn around every month. Apart from Zimbabwe, he listed Ghana, South Africa and Zambia among the countries that Macmillan and he can “export” gold from. Macmillan told Al Jazeera reporters that Mathias also works with “the Russians”.Mathias, initially uncomfortable about Macmillan’s boastful attitude in front of our reporters, then explained what they needed to do in order for him to help launder their cash — set up a company in Dubai that they could claim was involved in the gold trade.When asked for a formal comment about the findings of Al Jazeera’s investigation, Mathias denied that he designed mechanisms to launder money and said that he had not laundered money or traded illegal gold for Russian clients or anyone else. He told us he had never had any working relationship with Macmillan.

Next week, Al Jazeera will introduce more key characters involved in the gold mafia.Decision to disband follows decades of attacks punctuated by failed peace talks and a changing political landscape.

is a series of perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context using graphics generated with artificial intelligence.

Al Jazeera infiltrates large gold-smuggling rings and reveals a giant money laundering scheme.The conviction and sentencing on Friday mark another significant step towards attaining justice for the Maya Achi Indigenous women, who were sexually abused by pro-government armed groups, during a period of extreme bloodshed between the military and left-wing rebels that left as many as 200,000 dead or missing.

Former Civil Self-Defence Patrol members Pedro Sanchez, Simeon Enriquez and Felix Tum were found guilty of crimes against humanity for sexually assaulting six members of the Maya Achi group, Judge Maria Eugenia Castellanos said.“The women recognised the perpetrators, they recognised the places where the events took place. They were victims of crimes against humanity,” she said, praising the women’s bravery in coming to court to testify on repeated occasions.

“They are crimes of solitude that stigmatise the woman. It is not easy to speak of them,” the judge said.Indigenous lawyer Haydee Valey, who represented the women, said the sentence was “historic” because it finally recognised the struggle of civil war survivors who had