At the forum "Young and Committed", Commissioner Iván Velásquez called upon the youth to join forces in fighting impunity.
PRESS RELEASE 019
JUDGE UPHOLDS DECISION TO REMAND GÁNDARA IN CUSTODY
Guatemala, March 23, 2012. The alternate judge of the Tenth Court of the First Instance for Criminal Matters, Drug Trafficking and Crimes against the Environment, Percy Ralda, rejected the request to review measures filed by the defense counsel of former minister of the interior Salvador Gándara. Gándara is implicated in illegal negotiations conducted with NGOs under the case addressing the inadequate work carried out at the Fraijanes II prison. The court's decision confirmed that the former official would continue to be remanded in custody.
The judge rejected the request of the former official on the grounds that the circumstances that motivated the custody measure remained unchanged. Gándara is accused of fraud, extortion, conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion. Gándara's defense counsel filed the request to review the measures in February.
The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)—which acts as a complementary prosecutor to the case—argued that the defense counsel failed to offer new evidence that would change the original circumstances, and they declared that the law clearly and specifically states that circumstances must change in order for such a request to be admissible.
Listen to press release. Voice of Diego Alvarez, CICIG Press Officer.