PRESS RELEASE 054
COURT CONFIRMS CICIG AS COMPLEMENTARY PROSECUTOR IN BUS NICARAGUA CASE
Guatemala, July 16, 2012. The First Chamber of Criminal Appeals Court confirmed the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala's (CICIG) role as a complementary prosecutor in the Nicaraguan bus case, rejecting the appeal lodged by the Defense of Sara Elizabeth Cruz Mancilla, who, in the proceeding, is accused of criminal association.
The Defense presented the appeal after Judge Carol Patricia Flores rejected the request to sever CICIG from the proceeding at a prosecution hearing held on June 7. According to the Defense, the accused party did not form part of a criminal group—a condition that would justify CICIG's involvement.
CICIG and the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) objected to the request and argued that the Defense was misinterpreting the law. Therefore, Judge Flores rejected the request and declared that Cruz Mancilla allegedly formed part of a criminal organization. Two former officers of the National Civil Police also formed part of said organization.
It is necessary to consider the stipulations of CICIG's mandate in regard to the characteristics of the illegal groups and clandestine security structures:
According to the mandate of CICIG:
"... illegal security groups and clandestine security organizations shall mean those groups that:
-Commit illegal acts in order to affect the full enjoyment and exercise of civil and political rights.
-Are linked directly or indirectly to agents of the State or have the capacity to generate impunity for their illegal actions."
BACKGROUND FACTS
Cruz Mancilla was extradited from Mexico along with Marvin Montiel Marín or Marvin Leonel Barrios (known as "el Taquero", the taco seller), with whom she lived. The pair are accused of being involved in the murder of 16 persons who were travelling in a bus en route from Nicaragua on November 8, 2008.
The Court B for High-Risk Matters set September 25, 2012 as the date to open the trial against seven members of this criminal structure, including Montiel Marín and Cruz Mancilla.