FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PRISON SYSTEM MUST REMAIN IN PRISON

Guatemala, June 19, 2012. Today, the Trial Court for High-risk Matters rejected the Defense's motion to change the preventive custody of former Deputy Director of the Prison System, Vidal Efraín Requena Mazariegos, to house arrest.

As the Trial Court dismissed the Defense's motion, Vidal Requena will continue to be remanded in custody. This came following the objection presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and CICIG, which stated that the initial circumstances had not changed and that there is the danger of the subject escaping, because the crime (if Requena were convicted) would carry a 6 to 20-year prison sentence. The objection also alluded to the risk that attempts may be made to impede the truth from being reached—Requena Mazariegos worked in the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP); the judiciary (OJ); the Department of Civil Intelligence (DIGICI); the General Directorate of the Prison System and the National Institute for Forensic Sciences (INACIF).

BACKGROUND FACTS
On March 27, 2012, Judge Carol Patricia Flores, Court A for High-risk Matters, ruled to open trial against the former Deputy Director of the Prison System, Vidal Efraín Requena Mazariegos. In the Amatitlán case, Requena was accused of laundering money, because of his alleged ties to an organization involved in drug trafficking and murder.

The First Chamber of Criminal Appeals revoked the initial ruling of September 8, 2011, passed down by Judge Flores (which granted Vidal Requena home arrest), and ordered that the accused party be remanded in custody.

The Judge granted CICIG definitive intervention as a complementary prosecutor, and ordered that proceedings be remitted to the Trial Court for High-risk Matters. Judge Flores had removed the possibility of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and CICIG continuing with their investigation against Requena in relation to charges of passive bribery and unlawful association.

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) acts as a definitive complementary prosecutor in this criminal proceeding.

The Amatitlán case concerns an armed confrontation that took place on April 24, 2009 between Police officers and alleged drug traffickers. Five National Civil Police officers died as a result of the confrontation. At a later stage, authorities seized 370 kg of cocaine and a large arsenal of weapons from the site.