The family of Lyle and Erik Menendez called Wednesday for the murderous brothers to be punished again after they spent more than 30 years behind bars for the brutal 1989 murder of their parents.

More than two dozen family members came to the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles and insisted that the Menendez brothers were victims of “unspeakable cruelty” at the hands of their father, music director Jose, and that their suffering was depicted during their performance ignored. Trial from 1993 because society had not yet recognized that men could be victims of sexual abuse.

“If they were the Menendez sisters, they wouldn’t be in custody. We have evolved and it is time for them to be released,” said Anna Maria Baralt, Jose Menendez’s niece.

Their aunt, Joan Vandermolen, said she “had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law.

“None of us did that. But when I look back, I see the fear that their father instilled in them,” added Vandermolen, whose sister was their mother, Kitty.

“The truth is that Lyle and Erik were abandoned by the very people who should have protected them. By their parents, by the system, by society as a whole. When they stood trial, the world was not ready to believe that boys could be raped or that young men could be victims of sexual violence. Today we know better.”

This is a development story. Check back later for updates.