PBI-Guatemala demands justice for Virginia Laparra who could be sentenced to 6 years in prison on July 8

Published by Brent Patterson on

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“The case is a revenge to guarantee impunity”

PBI-Guatemala has posted:

#VirginiaLaparra’s fight for a fairer Guatemala is a light in the midst of darkness and corruption.

We demand #JusticeForVirginia #NoMoreCrime

Prensa Libre reports: “Next Monday, July 8, Judge Moisés de León will issue the resolution against the former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI) in Xela, Virginia Laparra.” Republica reports: “The [Public Ministry] MP’s request is that Laparra be sentenced to 6 years in prison for the alleged commission of the crime of disclosure of confidential information.”

Background

On December 16, 2022, Laparra was sentenced to four years in prison for the alleged crime of ongoing abuse of authority.

Amnesty International expressed its dismay at this conviction “based on the court’s analysis that the then prosecutor committed a crime solely by initiating an administrative lawsuit accusing a judge of corruption.”

This four year sentence is under challenge before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), so it is not yet final.

Additionally, on October 19, 2022, while Laparra was in jail during the case noted above, a second arrest warrant was issued against her related to another criminal complaint filed by the same judge Laparra had previously accused of corruption.

Several news articles name this judge as Lesther Castellanos.

Journalists Jody García and Nina Lakhani have commented in The Guardian the “the country’s ruling elite [is pursuing] a strategy to purge the justice system and derail corruption investigations against their allies.”

Juan Francisco Sandoval, the former director of Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, who had to flee Guatemala in July 2021, told the Guardian: “It’s a clear message from the political and economic power brokers that never again should corruption cases be investigated – or the consequences will be prison or exile.”

Multiple organizations, including Lawyers Without Borders Canada and Impunity Watch, have condemned “the continued criminal harassment of the former prosecutor in retaliation for her anti-corruption work.”

Amnesty International has also called for “an immediate end to the misuse of the criminal justice system to harass, intimidate and punish judges, prosecutors, human rights defenders and journalists”.

At least 29 judicial officials have left the country in recent years for fear of being the target of criminal prosecutions

We continue to follow this.


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