SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE LIFTS IMMUNITY OF JUDGE PERALTA CASTAÑEDA

Guatemala, October 17, 2012. Today, the Supreme Court of Justice gave notice of the order passed on September 12, 2012, whereby the application to lift immunity was declared ADMISSIBLE. The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) had filed said application against Mario Fernando Peralta Castañeda, judge of children and adolescents and adolescents in conflict with the law in the department of Escuintla.

The MP filed a complaint regarding charges of illegal possession of machinery to recondition ammunition for use with homemade firearms; illegal possession of arms with registration numbers that have been modified, erased or not legally marked by the General Directorate of Arms and Ammunition Control (DIGECAM); illegal possession of ammunition; and illegal dumping of civilian or sports firearms.

The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) filed the application to lift immunity against Judge Peralta following the entry and search of Peralta Castañeda's residence on August 12, 2011, where a number of firearms were discovered along with two machines to recondition ammunition for firearms. At the search, Peralta Castañeda was arrested for allegedly participating in the illegal adoption procedure of the child Dafne Nayeli Camey Pérez (under the name Yajaira Noemí Muyus) for the purposes of adoption by a family from outside of Guatemala. CICIG participated in the search as a complementary prosecutor in Muyus Case.