The Investigative Commission in charge of analyzing the case of the request to withdraw the right of preliminary hearing once morest the magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) recommended this Wednesday, July 10, to maintain the immunity of the magistrates, considering that the complaint is spurious, political and illegitimate, parliamentary sources reported.
The Commission learned of file 246-2024, which includes the request to remove the immunity of the TSE magistrates Irma Elizabeth Palencia, Ranulfo Rafael Rojas Cetina, Blanca Odilia Alfaro, Gabriel Aguilera Bolaños and Mynor Custodio Franco.
This Wednesday, the Commission, chaired by Deputy Luis Cáceres, submitted the detailed report that will be sent to the Plenary of the Congress of the Republic, which will have the final say in this process, promoted by the National Unity of Hope (UNE) and the Special Prosecutor’s Office once morest Impunity (Feci).
According to a publication by the Legislative Body, Cáceres indicated that in the analysis process they applied the principle of objectivity to reach the conclusion and indicated that this was based on the four facts set forth in the complaint related to the alleged duplication of minutes, hasty and humanly impossible counting, use of the computer system for the Transmission of Preliminary Electoral Results (TREP) and disobedience of the members of the TSE.
“It was our responsibility as a commission to determine whether this impeachment was promoted for spurious, political and illegitimate reasons, as reflected in the detailed report that we submitted to the Plenary of Congress. Our recommendation is based on the principle of objectivity to reach the conclusion,” said Cáceres.
Furthermore, point six of the report details that “this Investigative Commission recommends to the Plenary Session of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala that the impeachment proceedings brought once morest titular magistrates for the crimes of failure to fulfill duties and abuse of authority for electoral purposes be declared without cause, since it was not possible to establish the existence of the facts that were reported, as an activity by its nature must be known by the jurisdictional body.”
With the presentation of the detailed report of the preliminary hearing identified with the number 246-2023, the work of that legislative body that was installed on April 29th comes to an end.
Conclusions of the report
Regarding the veracity of the facts. Even though the complaint revolves around the second round of elections held on August 20, 2023, a fact that is real and established by law, there is no evidence to prove the veracity of the reported facts.
Regarding the probable participation of the dignitary or official in the same. Although the investigative body explained the reasons why it requested jurisdictional control and to develop a criminal investigation once morest the officials accused, it did not provide conclusive elements that convinced this commission of the possible participation of the accused officials in the events reported. Therefore, it is feasible to establish that there are no reliable and reasonable indications regarding the possible participation of the Magistrates in the events reported.
If the investigation has been promoted for spurious, political and illegitimate reasons in an effort to involve such officials, even when this Investigative Commission, in order to demonstrate impartiality and good faith, summoned on two occasions the representatives of the complaining political party (summons to which there was no response), it is necessary to recognize that the complaint comes from someone who acts in his capacity as a political actor, denouncing possible crimes committed once morest the UNE party, based on the unfavorable results obtained during the second round of elections; thus involving officials who have no role in the counting, typing, verification, validation and transmission of results through the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP).
By not even appearing to ratify the complaint, there are sufficient reasons to determine that the person who promoted this impeachment was based on a subjective political criterion, and by not having any evidence, it denotes a spurious and illegitimate nature.
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