Erwin Sperisen’s trial on appeal to be held from 4 to 8 May 2015 in Geneva: NGOs hope that the fight against impunity will come out strengthened

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

Erwin Sperisen’s trial on appeal to be held from4 to 8 May 2015 in Geneva: NGOs hope that thefight against impunity will come out strengthened

May 1, 2015. The retrial of Erwin Sperisen will be held from 4 to 8 May 2015 in Geneva. His lawyers had appealed against the life sentence for seven murders handed down on 6 June 2014. The Court of Second Instance will thus have to re-examine the part he played in the extrajudicial executions of 10 prisoners during operations carried out by the Guatemalan Police. For the NGOs that reported Erwin Sperisen to the Swiss authorities, this trial is the opportunity to shed light again on the tragic acts that the former Chief of the Guatemalan Police is alleged to have committed. They cannot speculate as to what the outcome of the trial might be, but they hope that it will remind everyone that no Swiss citizen – whether here or elsewhere – can break the law without paying the consequences of doing so. Guatemala remains in the grips of corruption and organized crime, so this trial on appeal has considerable potential: that of reversing the impunity that members of the Guatemalan State apparatus have enjoyed for far too long.

On 6 June 2014, Erwin Sperisen, a Swiss and Guatemalan citizen, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Given the seriousness of the acts, the number of victims and the lack of empathy and awareness displayed by the former Chief of the Guatemalan National Police, the judges in the Geneva Criminal Court considered that only a sentence of life imprisonment would be likely to punish the accused. This judgment made it clear that the perpetrators of serious crimes – however high up they might be – are not immune from criminal penalties, and that their victims – whatever their origins – deserve justice.

Erwin Sperisen and his lawyers have appealed against this decision. Erwin Sperisen will therefore be called to appear at the second instance trial being held from 4 to 8 May 2015 before the Criminal Chamber of the Geneva Court of Justice.

Eight years ago, an NGO coalition reported the former Chief of the Guatemalan National Civil Police (PNC) to the justice system. That coalition suspected that the officers under his command had committed serious and numerous human rights violations (extrajudicial executions, torture, enforced disappearances and sexual violence). On 31 August 2012, Erwin Sperisen was finally arrested by order of Geneva’s Public Prosecutor and remanded in custody until his trial in 2014.

For far too long, the Guatemalan State apparatus has been associated with organized crime and ignored the rule of law. Today, human rights defenders and journalists continue to be threatened, harassed or killed while perpetrators of serious violations enjoy considerable impunity. As far as NGOs are concerned, it is now time for the rule of law to ultimately reign in Guatemala. Just a few months away from the trial in Spain of Carlos Vielman, his former superior, and after the sentencing of his subordinate Victor Soto Diéguez to a 33-year prison term, NGOs hope that the second trial of Erwin of Sperisen will help to reverse impunity.

For further information, please contact:

Chloé Bitton, Head of Communications, media@trial-ch.org / T +41 79 192 37 44

Helena Solà Martín, Legal Adviser, hs@omct.org / T +41 22 809 4939