Judge Carmen Acú Recinos declared this Tuesday, January 3, under confidentiality, the case in which the former head of the Special Prosecutor once morest Impunity (Feci) in Quetzaltenango, Virginia Laparra, He remains in designated prison for revealing confidential information.
The reservation of the case was issued for 10 days and was requested by the prosecutor of the Internal Affairs Prosecutor of the Public Ministry (MP), Noé Rivera, who, among his arguments to make this request was that the media should not be present. in that kind of process because “they violate the rights of the detainees and misrepresent the information.”
The audience this Tuesday, developed in the City of Quetzaltenango, In principle, it was for Judge Acú Recinos to expand her resolution to explain whether or not she continued to hear the process once morest Laparra, because in October 2022 the defense of the former prosecutor challenged her.
However, the judge ruled that the challenge was inadmissible, so it automatically went to the first statement stage, but the defense presented several challenges because the ex-prosecutor doubts his impartiality, Well, according to his testimony during the hearing, he has been condescending to the arguments of former judge Lesther Castellanos, who was denounced by Laparra and who gave way to the proceedings that are being followed once morest the exfeci, who was recently sentenced to four years in prison.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the MP requested the confidentiality of the case because in the syndication that they will make to Laparra there are media and journalists who might be witnesses or They might be called to testify in the process.
During the hearing, prosecutor Noé Rivera accused the media of interfering in the proceedings; In addition, he stated that for no reason should journalists be present in this type of process because “the rights of the detainees are violated and the information is misrepresented.”
Laparra, for his part, said at the hearing that it is ironic that the MP requests that the case be reserved when the plaintiffs publish details of the hearings, even when they are in development.
On December 16, a court sentenced Laparra to 4 commutable years in prison at a rate of Q10 per day, following being found guilty of the crime of continuous abuse of authority.
Laparra was prosecuted following former judge Lesther Castellanos denounced her, Well, when she was a prosecutor, she wanted to investigate him four times for allegedly leaking confidential information.
The trial lasted just 18 days and all those who testified were police officers or civil servants, in addition to a controversial judge who was investigated by the defendant before being arrested, on February 23, 2022.
The only witnesses who testified in this trial were two police officers who arrested her, a lawyer appointed by the prosecution, a graphological expert (to authenticate her signature) and former judge Lesther Castellanos, whom Laparra denounced four times for allegedly leaking confidential information.
The court also disqualified Laparra from holding public office while serving her sentence, but she will be able to practice as a lawyer, a setback for the Prosecutor’s Office, which had asked to disqualify her completely and that she was sentenced to eight uncommutable years in prison.
Laparra stated that the charges once morest him were “revenge” from a controversial right-wing entity, plaintiff in this trial, famous for defending politicians denounced for corruption and soldiers accused of having committed crimes during the civil war (1960-1996).
