El Salvador's Supreme Court has officially requested the extradition of Mario Reyes Mena, an 85-year-old ex-colonel accused of participating in the murders of four Dutch journalists in 1982. The journalists—Koos Jacobus Andries Koster, Jan Cornelius Kuiper, Hans Lodewijk ter Laag, and Johannes Jan Willemsen—were killed while documenting issues in a rural area near San Salvador during the ongoing civil war.

Arrest warrants for Reyes Mena and two other former military officials were issued over two years ago in relation to the journalists' deaths.

At the time of the murders, Reyes was leading an infantry brigade in the Salvadoran army.

A UN-sponsored Truth Commission, established in 1993, concluded that the journalists were victims of an ambush orchestrated by Reyes and several other officers.

After the civil war ended in 1992, a law that provided amnesty for war crimes effectively halted any legal actions concerning the case.

However, in 2016, El Salvador's highest court ruled the amnesty law unconstitutional, allowing the families of the victims to file new criminal charges.

Pedro Cruz, an attorney representing the victims' families, confirmed that the Supreme Court's extradition request has been approved for delivery to U.S. authorities.

Reyes has resided in Virginia since his tenure as a military attaché in the United States during the 1980s.

Alongside Reyes, former defense minister Jose Guillermo Garcia, aged 91, and another ex-colonel, Francisco Moran, aged 93, are also facing trial in El Salvador for their alleged involvement in the same crime.

Both are currently under police watch while receiving medical care.

The Salvadoran civil war, which lasted from 1980 to 1992, claimed the lives of over 75,000 people and has left enduring effects on the country's political and social landscape.