PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) at #CasoDiarioMilitar hearing after two of the accused die

On January 3, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“#PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm to the extinction hearing of the criminal prosecution of the military Taracena and Mabilo. The judge in charge ordered the cessation of criminal prosecution due to the death of the two defendants.”

Famdegua has also explained:

“The Public Ministry makes its request to extinguish the criminal prosecution for the death of Marco Antonio González Taracena and Mavilo Aurelio Castañeda Bethancourt accused of forced disappearance, crimes against the duties of Humanity, murder and attempted murder.”

On May 4, 2022, NISGUA had also tweeted:

“Marco Antonio González Taracenas’ lawyer explains that he is not present in the court due to health problems. González Taracena, former head of El Archivo, is accused, among other crimes, of forced disappearance and crimes against humanity.”

And in August 2021, Prensa Libre had reported that the case against Mavilio Aurelio Castañeda Bethancourt had been suspended “due to his health condition, since the aforementioned suffers from Alzheimer’s.”

That article also explained that Castañeda was a former specialist in the Mobile Military Police and that “Castañeda and other ex -military officers [are accused] of having participated in actions of kidnapping, disappearance, torture and execution of at least 183 people between 1983 and 1985.”

PBI-Guatemala has been accompanying the #CasoDiarioMilitar court hearing process that began in May-June 2021.

Photo: Vancouver resident Wendy Mendez holds a photo of her mother, Luz Haydee Méndez Calderón, who was listed in the Military Diary and disappeared in Guatemala in 1984. Photo by Mike Bell/PNG.