Three criminalized defenders of Chicoyogüito to be released on bail, next court date in October

On July 16, Caso Creompaz tweeted: “With substitute measures for the 3 criminalized companions of Chicoyogüito the hearing to review measures ends in the Court of First Criminal Instance of Cobán. Also in this hearing, MAGA [the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food of Guatemala] was constituted as an adhesive plaintiff.”

It adds: “The next hearing will be convened in October.”

Earlier in the day, Caso Creompaz tweeted: “Hearing of 3 criminalized comrades of Chicoyogüito, who were captured on June 9 when they began a peaceful demonstration demanding the return of their territory, of which they were dispossessed by the @Ejercito_GT [Guatemalan army].”

Prensa Comunitaria further explains: “Three people who were linked to prosecution for the crimes of aggravated usurpation by claiming land from the Chicoyogüito community in June, obtained house arrest and may be released from prison after paying a bond of Q4 thousand, after the judge made a review of measures, says lawyer Francisco Vivar.”

Q4,000 is about CAD $650.

“The brothers Duvin Estuardo and Elmer Alfredo Hub Catún and their father, Alfredo Hub, accused of aggravated usurpation and two of them for the crime of attack, were arrested along with 18 other people on June 9 by the National Civil Police (PNC).”

“They were arrested when they were preparing to hold a demonstration demanding land that was taken from them by the army in 1968.”

“At the hearing on June 21, the judge granted house arrest to 18 people, but three of the detainees did not benefit from this measure.”

“In this hearing, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) was constituted as an adhesive plaintiff in the process, because the Agricultural Training School, located in zone 9 of Cobán, Alta Verapaz, where the alleged invasion occurred, is attached to that area.”

The Prensa Comunitaria article concludes: “Vivar reported that the hearing in which the Public Ministry will present its investigation and ask that it send the accused community members to trial will be next October.”

PBI webinar on Creompaz

The day prior to the court hearing, PBI-Canada convened a webinar that included two members of the Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (AVECHAV) who are seeking the return of their ancestral land that they were displaced from on July 28, 1968, for the construction of the Military Zone 21 army base, now called Creompaz.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied AVECHAV since 2015.

To watch the video of the webinar, please click here.