STAY ON REPAYMENT OF BAIL BOND TO FORMER PRESIDENT PORTILLO

Guatemala, October 10, 2012. The Constitutional Court (CC) gave notice of the decision it issued on August 24, whereby CICIG was awarded a provisional amparo remedy in the case concerning the former President Alfonso Portillo. The decision affirmed that the case circumstances justify constitutional protection.

This decision provisionally suspends the ruling passed by the Eleventh Court of Criminal Sentencing, Drug trafficking and Crimes against the Environment, which ordered that the GTQ1,000,000 bail bond be returned to former President Alfonso Portillo.

The Commission filed the amparo application based on the belief that due process and the principles of legal certainty and the imperativeness of law had been violated through the failure to accept the civil suit brought by the Attorney General of the Nation's Office (PGN). The civil suit sought to achieve compensation for damages for the State.

CICIG acts as a complementary prosecutor in this criminal proceeding.