Guatemalan Supreme Court Orders to Proceed Immediately with the Investigation of the Las Dos Erres’ Massacre

Guatemala City, Guatemala, February 10^th, 2010

On February 8^th, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court declared the immediate execution of the sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of the Las Dos Erres’ massacre, perpetrated in December 1982 in the Department of Petén, which consequently ordered the competent court to continue with the prosecution of persons accused and those responsible, even today, for these serious incidents.

It is important to recall that the Inter-American Court stated in its ruling that the delay in the investigation process "is attributable not only to the indiscriminate use of resources by the accused, but also to a lack of will and interest from the State's judicial authorities, which have known of them, since they have not properly handled numerous appeals, and submitted the case to the procedure laid down in the [National Reconciliation Law ...];  all of which caused the freezing of criminal proceedings”. In this regard, it is noteworthy that in the domestic proceedings there had been filed more than thirty other protections and legal remedies that were designed to prevent progress in the investigation of the facts that killed hundreds.

Because of this, the decision of the Criminal Chamber, which occurred in response to requests made by the Association of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), and victims’ representatives, as the Attorney for Human Rights Attorney General, states that it must enforce the arrest warrants that had been decreed on October 7^th, 1999 and April 4^th, 2,000? It also establishes the admission of early evidence "unable to apply hereinafter the provisions of the National Reconciliation Law "and leaving with no effect both ordinary and constitutional challenges" outstanding, in deference to the statement by the American High Court.

FAMDEGUA and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), victims’ representatives in international litigations, celebrate the decision of the Criminal Division and recognize that this is an important first step in the fight against impunity after decades of obstructionism and delay, who have denied justice to victims of these and many other serious violations committed during the armed conflict. Likewise, they also call upon the State of Guatemala to give accurate and timely implementation of all measures of reparation ordered by the Inter-American Court in its ruling and take serious and sustained measures to strengthen the research capacity of this and similar cases.

Case sentence Las dos Erres vs. Guatemala:

http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_211_esp.pdf

http://www.cejil.org/comunicados.cfm?id=980

Guatemala's Contact

FAMDEGUA

Tel: 502 – 2230 2826

Costa Rica's Contact

CEJIL

Nancy Marín Espinoza

Press and Communications

Tel: 506-2280-7473/7608

Fax: 506-2280-52

E-mail: nmarin@cejil.org