Guatemala’s former anti-corruption prosecutor will face another legal process

Without access to the media and in confidence, Acú decided that Laparra would continue in protective custody for the alleged offense of disclosing confidential information as part of the second case brought by the Public Prosecution Service (MP).

To develop the corresponding investigation, this last case will have a period of three months, at noon on Wednesday, at the end of the first hearing in the Criminal Court of Quetzaltenango.

The detention of the case is for a period of 10 days, at the request of the head of the Interior Prosecution office, to the deputy, who considered that “the press violates the rights of the detainees and distorts the information.”

In this way, it is forbidden to know the details of the process directly, the sessions are behind closed doors and the parties cannot talk about the matter.

On December 16, a court sentenced LaBarra to four years in prison, commutable at 10 quetzales per day ($1.29), for the offense of continuing abuse of power.

Then the former member of Feci considered the verdict as a reprisal against her by the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala.

This official, with MP led by Thelma Aldana, was to investigate transcendental cases of corruption, the perpetrators of which culminated in imprisonment despite being members of the highest levels of government, military or businessmen, until then untouchable.

Labarra faced a first trial because in 2018 he had denounced then-Judge Lester Castellanos four times for abuse of power and it was not within his jurisdiction in Quetzaltenango to do so, according to revelations in the process.

Human rights organizations inside and outside Guatemala then criticized the ruling of the former anti-corruption prosecutor as part of the “selective prosecution of the judicial authorities” under the current government.

jha/mmk