JUDGE ORDERS OPENING OF TRIAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST PARTY ACCUSED OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING

Guatemala, August 30, 2012. Yesterday, August 29, Carol Patricia Flores—Judge of the Court of the First Criminal Instance for High-risk Matters—ordered that former police officer Nicolás Camajá Bach be sent to trial on a charge of extra-judicial killing. Flores deemed that the evidence and investigations, along with the indictment, comply with the requirements set forth by the law.

Former officer Camajá Bach is accused of directly participating in the extra-judicial killing of the fugitive Edwin Estuardo Santacruz Rodríguez on November 3, 2005. Santacruz Rodríguez had fled from El Infiernito prison (Escuintla) in October 2005. He is accused of allegedly forming part of a criminal organization within the Ministry of the Interior and the PNC that extra-judicially killed various fugitives of the prison El Infiernito (Escuintla).

The killing of Santacruz Rodríguez took place in Rio Hondo, department of Zacapa.

Background to the case
Following the escape of nineteen inmates from the high-security prison El Infiernito (October 22, 2005), former officer Camajá Bach, along with other former police officers and officials from the Ministry of the Interior at the time, executed the "Gavilán Plan" so as to locate the inmates who were absconding. As part of this plan, inmate Edwin Estuardo Santacruz Rodríguez was detained and extra-judicially killed.

Furthermore, this structure is linked with the extra-judicial killings of other fugitives from El Infiernito and seven inmates from the Pavón Prison, both of which took place on September 25, 2006. In these cases, the following parties, among others, are accused: former minister of the interior, Carlos Vielmann; former director of the PNC, Erwin Sperisen; and deputy director of PNC investigations, Javier Figueroa.