The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:
“Yesterday [September 9], #PBI joined Famdegua Guatemala [the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala] and the @Human Rights Law Firm at an interim hearing in the #DiarioMilitar case against Toribio Acevedo, Malfred Orlando Pérez, Edgar Virgilio de León and Alix Barillas (the latter did not appear at the hearing, so the judge gave him 24 hours to appear or he would be declared in contempt of court), who are charged with the offences of unlawful detention, torture, enforced disappearance, murder and sexual violence against approximately 195 people during the de facto government of General Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores.
At the start of the hearing, the lawyer representing several complainants requested that the hearing be suspended because there is a court order requiring the Public Prosecutor’s Office to appoint a new prosecutor to the case; this is because the human rights prosecutor’s office, which had previously been handling the proceedings in the hearings towards the end of last year, had requested that the charges against these defendants be dismissed. This action led to mistrust amongst the complainants, which is why, in October 2025, through their lawyers, they requested that the human rights prosecution unit be removed from the case, on the grounds that it could not act with the necessary impartiality in the proceedings.
Despite strong opposition from Toribio Acevedo’s defence team, High-Risk Court D, presided over by Judge Abelina Cruz, accepted the request, adjourned the hearing and asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to appoint a new prosecutor to appear at the next hearing on 21 September at 9.00 am.”
Additional reading on the court hearing this week:
–Diario Militar: judge will consult if the MP will appoint another prosecutor’s office for the process (Prensa Comunitaria, September 9, 2026)
–Diario Militar case: Hearing is suspended because prosecutor’s office did not notify an amparo in time (Diario La Hora, September 9, 2026).
Context
Prensa Comunitaria has also noted:
“The Diario Militar case, also known as the ‘Dossier de la Muerte’ (Death Dossier), originates from a Guatemalan Army intelligence document that chronologically details how state security forces allegedly committed a series of crimes during the internal armed conflict.
These include kidnappings, transfers to clandestine detention centers, torture, sexual violence, and murders.
According to the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office, the archive, made public in 1999, collects records of murders and forced disappearances of at least 183 people between 1983 and 1985.
On May 27, 2021, the prosecutor’s office reported on the capture of 11 military personnel accused of the illegal detention, torture, forced disappearance, murder, and sexual violence of approximately 195 people during the de facto government of General Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores.”
The Military Diary includes trade unionists
Ruda has explained: “The [Military Diary] list includes students, university professors, trade unionists, and members of social organizations that the Army identified as allies of the guerrillas.”
Rubén Amílcar Farfán
It has been reported that Rubén Amilcar “always thought about the common good and the vindication of labor rights [and] almost from the moment he started working, he was a member of the Road Workers’ Union” and that the first time he was arrested by security forces was “in 1980, while negotiating the Collective Agreement on Working Conditions with his union colleagues.”
Álvaro René Sosa Ramos
No-Ficción has reported: “Álvaro René Sosa Ramos was Secretary of Organization of the Diana company union during 1979 and 1980, years of intense repression against the union movement. …Captured by the authors of the Military Diary on March 11, 1984, he escaped two days later. …In 2007 he told the Public Prosecutor’s Office that during his captivity he heard other kidnapped people.”
Amancio Samuel Villatoro
The No-Ficción article continues: “They showed him Amancio Samuel Villatoro, general secretary of the Adams factory union, kidnapped for a month and a half and whose body, located in the old San Juan Comalapa detachment, was identified in November 2011.”
Accompaniment
PBI-Guatemala has been accompanying the Military Diary Case court hearing process since May 2021
Peace Brigades International began to accompany Human Right Law Firm (BDH) lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila in August 2010 due to several security incidents he had faced in relation to the high-profile judicial processes he was working on. At the end of 2013, PBI-Guatemala extended its physical accompaniment to the other lawyers of the BDH who work in high-profile trials to fight against impunity and in defending criminalized human rights defenders.
