PBI-Guatemala accompanies imprisoned Maya Q’eqchi’ defenders Marcelino Xol Cucul and Jorge Coc Coc at court hearing

On July 12, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the public visit of Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cul criminalized members of the CCDA [Campesino Committee of the Highlands]. Magistrates are familiar with the casation [annulment] appeal raised by the defense of the two defendants.”

On July 10, PBI-Guatemala has also posted:

“PBI accompanies the defenders of the land Marcelino Xol Cucul and Jorge Coc Coc of the Ccda Verapaz.

This Tuesday, July 12, they will have their casation hearing before the CSJ [Supreme Court of Justice]. His attorney and the attorney will present arguments to prove the lack of due process that led to a 35-year sentence against the two.

Here we share more information about criminalization, the assessments of lawyer Wendy Lopez and messages from Jorge and Marcelino: https://cutt.ly/oLkN2gV.”

In their December 2021 monthly update, PBI-Guatemala explained: “Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul [are] human rights defenders and community leaders from Choctún Basilá, who have been criminalized and imprisoned since 2018.”

Both are Maya Q’eqchi’ defenders with the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) in the Verapaz region that fights for access to land and against continued evictions and dispossession from ancestral lands.

In January 2022, the German newspaper Junge Welt also reported: “Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul, local indigenous authorities from the Choctun Basilá community in Cobán County and members of the CCDA, were sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2019 on fabricated charges of murder and attempted murder.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) Verapaz since July 2018.

Photo: Marcelino Xol Cucul and Jorge Coc Coc, June 2019.