Guatemala: International organizations condemn the prosecution of former prosecutor Virginia Laparra

Guatemala, Mexico City, Geneva, Johannesburg, San José, Washington DC – May 6, 2024.

The second trial of the former head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity (FECI) in Quetzaltenango, Lilian Virginia Laparra Rivas, will start on Monday, May 6. The Public Prosecution Service (MP) and the plaintiffs in the case accuse her of revealing confidential information while she was head of the FECI. This is the second lawsuit she has faced in less than 18 months. The undersigned organizations condemn the continued criminal harassment of the former prosecutor in retaliation for her anti-corruption work. We demand that due process be respected in this process, which we will observe.

Virginia Laparra is an exemplary former prosecutor and doctor of law who is the subject of two baseless criminal proceedings for her work as a prosecutor, defending justice and exposing corruption. In November 2022, she was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Her work as a prosecutor has been widely recognized, including the Prize for Excellence from Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo in March 2024, the Quetzal Prize for Democracy and Human Rights and the Ixoqib ‘Tz’i – Women of Justice Medal.

On December 16, 2022, after an initial criminal trial that was marred by several irregularities and that failed to guarantee her rights, a court in Guatemala City sentenced Virginia Laparra to four years in prison for abuse of power. The verdict is not yet final. The former prosecutor thus spent almost two years in prison until she was placed under house arrest on January 3, 2024. Her detention was declared arbitrary by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Several other UN and OAS experts have also denounced the political nature of the criminal proceedings and the human rights violations against her.

In this new trial, she risks being sentenced to 5 and a maximum of 8 years in prison. Unfortunately, arbitrary actions, unjustified delays and violations of her rights to defense and due process have already been observed at the beginning of the trial.

These two cases, which stem from complaints filed between 2018 and 2019 by a Quetzaltenango judge against whom former prosecutor Laparra had filed charges of alleged corruption, are clear examples of the manipulation of the justice system to ensure impunity for those responsible for large-scale corruption. fallen.

The undersigned organizations condemn the continued criminal harassment of the former prosecutor in retaliation for her anti-corruption work. We demand that due process be respected in this process, which we will observe.

We urge the Public Prosecution Service and the judiciary to guarantee Virginia Laparra’s right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal, with all guarantees of a fair trial, including a public hearing, in accordance with international human rights standards.

Finally, we urge the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary to put an end to the criminalization of justice, human rights defenders, indigenous communities and journalists solely for their fight against corruption and impunity in Guatemala.

Signatory organizations

• Lawyers Without Borders Canada
• Amnesty International
• CIVICUS, the Global Civil Society Alliance
• Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA)
• International platform against impunity
• Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
• Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
• Foundation for the Right to a Fair Trial (DPLF)
• Just be
• Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
• Central America Office for International Protection
• ACTuando Juntas Jotay Program
• American Jewish World Service
• Watching impunity
• Guatemalan Human Rights Commission (GHRC)
• International Human Rights Service (ISHR)