CHAMBER ORDERS JUDGE TO SEND FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PRISON SYSTEM TO TRIAL

Guatemala, February 20, 2013. In the Amatitlán case, the First Chamber of Criminal Appeals ordered Judge Carol Patricia Flores, head of the Court A of the First Criminal Instance for High-risk Matters, to send former Deputy Director of the Prison System Vidal Efraín Requena Mazariegos to trial on the charge of criminal association.

The judges of the First Chamber deemed that Judge Flores had abused her powers by closing, on March 27, 2012, the criminal association case open against Vidal Requena. As a result, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) appealed the decision, and the First Chamber of Appeals annulled the judge's ruling.

The former Deputy Director of the Prison System formed part of an organization involved in drug trafficking and also implicated in the murder in the case in question. On July 11, 2012, Requena Mazariegos was sentenced to six years in prison on the charge of money laundering.

The Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and CICIG presented evidence that includes bank account statements and monetary deposits proving Requena Mazariegos constantly received money from the criminal structure.

The Judge granted CICIG definitive intervention in its role as complementary prosecutor and ordered that proceedings be forwarded to the Trial Court for High-risk Matters, where the public oral proceeding will be held. The hearing to submit evidence was scheduled for February 25.

Background
The Amatitlán case concerns an armed confrontation that took place on April 24, 2009 between Police officers and alleged drug traffickers. Five National Civil Police officers died as a result of the confrontation. At a later stage, authorities seized 370 kg of cocaine and a large arsenal of weapons from the site.