Consuelo Porras dismisses the head of the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office in Guatemala

The Attorney General of Guatemala, Consuelo Porrassigned this Thursday the forced departure from the Public Ministry of the head of the Human Rights Prosecutor, Hilda Pineda, with which she adds one more piece of layoffs under her mandate in the fiscal entity of the Central American country.

In a statement, the Public Ministry reasoned that the removal of the official occurs within the legal framework and the powers of the attorney general, revalidated in office in recent May by President Alejandro Giammattei, despite open criticism from the United States and the European Community.

“It is personnel of free appointment and removal, as established by the Organic Law of the Public Ministry, Internal Labor Regulations and Collective Agreement on Working Conditions,” the Public Ministry reported in a statement.

Porras’ office said that the dismissal is framed within its institutional work plan: “they are personnel actions aimed at institutional strengthening, derived from the needs in the service.”

International organizations such as Human Right Watch (HRW) reacted this afternoon to the dismissal of the prosecutor who had a long history of work in the institution with issues of transitional justice, such as investigations of war crimes and other human rights violations committed in the country.

Juan Pappier, HRW’s main analyst in Washington, reacted to the dismissal on the social network and clarified that the Public Ministry of Guatemala shows a path contrary to due process for the dismissal of justice operators.

“I reject the dismissal of prosecutor Hilda Pineda, who did a brave job when she led the investigations into the armed conflict. The ‘free removal’ of prosecutors from the Public Ministry contradicts international standards on the independence of justice operators,” Pappier said.

President Alejandro Giammattei accused the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Tuesday of wanting to “impose” on his country international doctrines and practices that Guatemala does not accept, and asked the OAS plenary on a visit to Washington DC, to stop the work of the Commission in his country that he included in his 2021 report, the Central American country as one more where fundamental rights are violated along with Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.

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