PBI-Guatemala accompanies Maya Q’eqchi’ defender Bernardo Caal Xol and Human Rights Law Firm at second criminalization trial

On October 19, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm and Bernardo Caal Xol in the hearing for continuation of the debate of the so-called Master Case.”

Earlier this month, La Prensa explained:

“In a court in Cobán, capital of Alta Verapaz, the second day of the oral and public debate hearing was held against the Mayan Q’eqchi’ teacher, Bernardo Caal Xol, accused by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) of the crime of illegal withholding.

According to the professor’s lawyers, the complaint filed against him is not criminal but administrative, but the Public Ministry (MP) decided to use it in this area, to criminalize him.

The hearing was held on October 5 at the Second Criminal Sentencing Court of Cobán, presided over by Judge José Alfredo Quiñónez Lemus, where the MP presented a single witness and various documentary evidence offered by the accused’s defense, which were accepted by the judge.

The next hearing will be on October 19, at 11 am in the same place, to find out if they manage to sentence him or declare his innocence.

The trial takes place five years after the start of the process, with violations of the legal deadline, because the time that Bernardo Caal was in prison for another case, did not advance until he regained his freedom and it was at that moment when he began to receive the notifications. “Why is it activated until now? That remains in the reading that can be done, surely it is part of an elaborate work to persecute him”, recalled the lawyer Edgar de León.”

The full article is at Bernardo Caal : el segundo proceso en su contra no debería ser penal sino administrative. More at: Bernardo Caal enfrenta un segundo proceso penal que busca criminalizarlo.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied Bernardo Caal and the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón since 2017 and the Human Rights Law Firm since 2013.