denounce process against human rights prosecutor

A controversy arose in Guatemala over the process recently initiated against Orlando Salvador López, former head of the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office and who led the accusation against General Efraín Ríos Montt for the crime of genocide.

The capture of the ex-prosecutor occurred on March 16 and Tuesday the 21st was linked to the process by Judge Ruth Ambrosio. He is accused of abuse of authority for exercising his profession as a lawyer and notary despite the fact that he had a ban for being an employee of the Public Ministry.

“There are sufficient arguments to link Mr. Orlando Salvador López to criminal proceedings for the moment, since the judge considers that the positive elements of the crime are met, since he does not have a finished employment relationship with the fiscal entity, that is, the Ministry Public, he held the status of a public official,” Ambrosio said.

However, the defense lawyer, Jovita Tzul, explained that the former prosecutor practiced as a lawyer in the free exercise of his human right to work because he was suspended from his duties as a public official.

“He was no longer a public official because he was suspended and the same labor code from which the suspension comes says that he has the right to work for other employers,” said Tzul.

He added that “it may be that he was an employee, and that is part of his labor rights, but did he exercise the position, exercise the public function, did he use his position to harm third parties? The answer is simple: never.

The organization Convergence for Human Rights, which brings together social organizations, expressed its rejection and assures that it is an act of revenge for the processes that former prosecutor Orlando Salvador López investigated against senior military commanders.

For his part, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch, Juan Pappier, declared that the process is part of a pattern of persecution against those who investigated corruption and human rights violations in Guatemala.

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