DEFINITIVE SENTENCE IN RIVERA CASE

Guatemala, July 26, 2012. Today, the First Chamber for Criminal Appeals, Drug Trafficking and Crimes against the Environment upheld the sentence passed by the Court of the First Instance for High-Risk Matters in the Rivera case, dismissing the special appeals filed by the Defense of the ten accused parties. This case addresses the murder of Víctor Rivera—former advisor at the Ministry of the Interior—on April 7, 2008 on Vista Hermosa Bulevard (Zone 15, Guatemala City) and the attempted murder of María del Rosario Melgar Martínez, who has an arrest warrant issued against her.

Dissenting opinion:
Judge Jorge Mario Valenzuela Díaz, a senior judge, deemed there to be sufficient evidence to convict Rubén Estuardo Rosales Sánchez (acquitted) for interfering with the course of justice and self-concealment and Walter Ivanovich Monroy Cruz for interfering with the course of justice.

Furthermore, the judge stated that there were grounds on which to convict Marleny Judith Sosa y Sosa, Cruz Magdaleno Reyes García, Israel Bethancourt Vela and Juan Antonio Vásquez for criminal association and Santiago Enrique Sis García (acquitted) for extrajudicial killing and personal injuries.

The definitive sentence was as follows:

• Aurelio Ruiz-34 YEARS IN PRISON (30 for murder and 4 for egregious injuries).
• César Augusto Paiz Córdova-34 YEARS IN PRISON (30 for murder and 4 for egregious injuries).
• Juan Antonio Vásquez-40 YEARS IN PRISON (30 for murder, 4 for egregious injuries and 6 for interfering with the course of justice).
• Israel Bethancourt Vela-46 YEARS IN PRISON (30 for murder, 4 for egregious injuries, 6 for illegal modification of weapons and 6 for interfering with the course of justice).
• Nelson Oswaldo Milián Girón-40 YEARS IN PRISON (30 for murder, 4 for egregious injuries, 6 for illegal possession of firearms).
• Santiago Enrique Sis García- ACQUITTED
• Marleny Judith Sosa y Sosa-6 YEARS IN PRISON (for interfering with the course of justice).
• Walter Ivanovich Monroy Cruz-5 YEARS IN PRISON (for falsification of documents).
• Cruz Magdaleno Reyes García-6 YEARS IN PRISON (for interfering with the course of justice).
• Rubén Estuardo Rosales Sánchez - ACQUITTED. In another case, Rosales Sánchez is also accused of assest laundering and conspiring to commit asset laundering.

According to the judges, the investigations conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) indentified the composition of this criminal structure that, under the command of Jorge Mario Paredes Córdova (alias "el gordo Paredes"), murdered Rivera.

The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) participated in the process as a technical consultant, pursuant to an agreement signed between the Government of Guatemala and the UN that stipulated that CICIG must support the MP in criminal prosecutions. CICIG can comply with this stipulation as a technical consultant or as a complementary prosecutor, as set forth in Article 3, Paragraph 1, Sub-paragraph c of the agreement.