The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on social media:
On Tuesday [September 1], #PBI accompanied the @bufetedh [Human Rights Law Firm] in the #CreompazCase. That day, a hearing was held to resolve three appeals filed by the parties involved in the proceedings; if these are granted, the continuation of the ordinary criminal process is at risk.”
The legal case and update
On August 20, 2026, eP Investiga provided this context:
“This case arose from the discovery of human remains located in the former Military Zone No. 21, in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, where the bones of hundreds of people who disappeared during the internal armed conflict were recovered.
In 2016, the MP [Public Ministry] presented the case against retired military officers accused of forced disappearance and crimes against the duties of humanity. The process advanced under the control of the High Risk Court A, in charge of Judge Domínguez.
On November 5, 2024, the Second Chamber of High Risk Appeals granted an amparo to the defense of one of the accused military officers and annulled everything that had been done in the process since its inception, considering that the High Risk Court ‘A’ did not have jurisdiction to hear the file.
The resolution annulled the arrest warrants, the resolutions that linked the defendants to the process and other judicial actions, in addition to ordering the release of the soldiers.
However, the decision was appealed by lawyers for the victims and survivors to the Constitutional Court (CC). On August 27, 2025, the CC ruled in favor of the appeals and reversed the decision that had annulled the process, with which the case was once again valid and it was able to continue its judicial process.”
The update provided by eP Investiga now adds:
“The First Chamber of the Court of Appeals for High Risk Processes dismissed a recusal filed against the High Risk “A” judge, Claudette Domínguez, so the judge will continue to lead the process for the Creompaz case.”
Additional background
The Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito was violently displaced from their ancestral lands so that an army base – then known as Military Zone 21 – could be established in the department of Alta Verapaz. More than 200 families were displaced from those lands on July 28, 1968, by the military.
After the displacement of the community, the military base became a clandestine centre for illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearance, and rape committed from 1978 to 1990.
At least 565 Indigenous people were disappeared at that base. The bodies identified are of Mayan Achí, Q’eqchi’, Pomochí, Ixil, and Kiché peoples.
The military base is considered the largest clandestine cemetery in Latin America.
The military base that displaced his community was rebranded in 2004 as Creompaz, a training base for UN peacekeepers funded by Canada and other countries.
Dawn Paley has written: “Regardless of the mass graves at the base, military and police training continues there, supported by countries like the US and Canada.” The support from Canada has included a CAD$250,000 grant in 2009 and the purchase of specialized equipment in 2014 for a training program at Creompaz.
Photo: CREOMPAZ, March 20, 2021.
At the bottom of this website (dated 2022), the Peace Operations Training Institute that partners with CREOMPAZ “to provide e-learning on peacekeeping courses” thanks Global Affairs Canada’s Peace and Stabilization Operations Programme for their funding.
PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm (El Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos/BDH) since 2013. PBI-Guatemala also previously accompanied the Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (AVECHAV), the community displaced by this military base.
“This land is ours”
