Various organizations have spoken out following Judge Moisés de León of the Second Sentencing Court of Quetzaltenango sentenced former anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra to 5 years of commutable prison on Monday, July 8, for the crime of revealing confidential information.
One of these is the European Union (EU), which on Wednesday, July 10, reported that it is “concerned regarding the latest sentence handed down once morest Virginia Laparra, a former senior prosecutor who has actively participated in the investigation of high-level corruption in Guatemala.”
He recalled that he has previously denounced efforts to intimidate independent Guatemalan judges, lawyers and prosecutors investigating corruption and fighting impunity “by subjecting them to criminal charges and investigations.”
“The EU remains concerned regarding efforts to undermine the rule of law through the persecution or intimidation of public officials, democratically elected authorities, civil society, media and judicial operators,” it said.
The former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office once morest Impunity in Quetzaltenango, Virginia Laparra, will not return to prison, as she has an alternative measure.
The United States also criticized on July 8 the five-year prison sentence once morest the former Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor for allegedly disclosing confidential information from a case in 2017.
“The sentencing of former anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra to five years in prison is another example of the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office’s atrocious attacks on the rule of law,” said Brian Nichols, head of the State Department’s Latin America department, on social media.
In the same message, the U.S. diplomat urged “Guatemala’s judicial authorities to stop using the criminal justice system to persecute defenders of human rights and justice.”
According to the sentence, Laparra disclosed confidential information regarding a case in 2017 and therefore must serve five years of commutable prison, that is, with the possibility of not going to jail if he pays a financial penalty.
Other organizations, including the Due Process Foundation, CEJIL and ACTuando Juntas Guatemala, regretted the conviction once morest Laparra and are “concerned that the ruling contains weak arguments regarding fraud in the case in question.”
“The observation of the process made it possible to demonstrate the lack of arguments regarding intent, which implies the deliberate intention to commit an illicit or harmful act. Proof of this requires clear and compelling evidence to demonstrate this intention, which was not conclusively demonstrated,” they argued.
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According to the organizations, “the former prosecutor has suffered a systematic criminalization that shows the misuse of criminal law, which has been the norm in Guatemala since 2018 when the current Attorney General Consuelo Porras, sanctioned for corruption by more than 40 countries around the world, came to head the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”
“This process reflects a particularly vicious persecution by power structures in order to obtain an exemplary punishment once morest people who have fought once morest corruption. Throughout the judicial process, we have observed the integrity and dedication of Virginia Laparra, we defend her innocence and we will continue to support her in her fight to prove the truth and restore her good name,” they stated.
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