Guatemala: New acts of criminalisation and persecution against lawyer and former anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra

RE: Guatemala: New acts of criminalisation and persecution of lawyer and former anti-corruption prosecutor, Virginia Laparra

Honourable Guatemalan authorities,

Please accept the warmest greetings from the undersigned human rights organisations.

We are writing to express our concern about the recent acts of persecution and criminalisation directed by the Guatemalan justice system against Ms. Virginia Laparra, lawyer and former prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI) of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) in Quetzaltenango.

We have received information that, on a recent date, the Fifth Chamber of Appeals for Criminal Matters, Drug Trafficking and Crimes against the Environment of Quetzaltenango (hereinafter, “the Chamber”) received a request from the Public Prosecutor's Office, through Prosecutor, Ms. Brenda Maribel Guzmán, seeking the revocation of the alternative measures to the deprivation of liberty of Ms. Laparra.

This request was submitted by Mr. Omar Barrios Osorio, joint plaintiff's counsel in the case against Ms. Laparra. It was supported by former judge and current rapporteur of the National Office for the Prevention of Torture in Guatemala, Mr. Lesther Castellanos, and Mr. Ricardo Méndez Ruíz of the Foundation Against Terrorism, who are joint plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs requested that the Chamber declare Ms. Laparra in contempt of court, revoke the alternative measures, and order her immediate arrest. They also asked the judges of that Chamber to request the General Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to issue a red alert for her international arrest.

The Chamber is currently reviewing the request, which could be legally inadmissible as the Public Prosecutor's Office had already been given sufficient opportunities to achieve a minimum degree of consistency in its petition. This request was manifestly inconsistent with the evidence provided, based exclusively on social media post, without any other supporting evidence. Furthermore, the deadline granted to the parties involved in the proceedings to respond to the Public Prosecutor's request for arrest has already expired. However, given the constant deficiencies in the Public Prosecutor's Office's request, the judges of the Chamber have begun to act ex officio, which could be interpreted as a simultaneous exercise of the roles of judge and party. This circumstance raises concerns and calls into question the impartiality of their actions.

As background, on April, 23, 2025, Judge Marco Antonio Villeda of the Eighth Criminal Court of Guatemala rejected a request from the Public Prosecutor's Office to declare Ms. Laparra in contempt of court and issue an arrest warrant against her, arguing that two judgments had already been handed down in her case and that it was therefore the responsibility of the Enforcement Court to ensure their enforcement.

The undersigned organisations recall that these two sentences resulted from proceedings characterised by arbitrariness, irregularities and due process violations, among other human rights violations against Ms. Laparra, under circumstances confirmed by international human rights bodies and mechanisms. Ms. Laparra went into exile in July 2024 with the sole purpose of preserving her life, after two years of being unjustly deprived of her liberty and convicted twice.

For all of the above reasons, we express our concern regarding the ongoing criminalisation and persecution of Ms. Laparra, as evidenced by the admissibility of this new request by the Public Prosecutor's Office and, in particular, the request to order her immediate arrest through the issuance of a red alert against her. We recall that when requests are motivated by political reasons, they violate Article 3 of the INTERPOL Constitution, which prohibits intervention in political, military, religious, or racial matters.

Ms. Laparra's case exemplifies the challenges faced by those who fight against corruption and impunity and defend the rule of law in Guatemala. Her imprisonment for more than 680 days, in retaliation for her efforts against corruption, has been widely condemned by national and international human rights organisations, and her work as a former prosecutor and lawyer has been recognised internationally.

Given the facts presented, we request that you:

1. Guarantee Ms. Virginia Laparra's rights to due process, legal defence, and access to justice, ensuring she receives all the procedural guarantees in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala.
2. Immediately end the policy of transnational persecution and criminalisation against human rights defenders and lawyers in Guatemala who have been forced into exile because of their work defending human rights and combating corruption.
3. Consider the critical and serious precedents regarding the criminalisation of those who have exercised or continue to exercise the defence of human rights from within the justice system when assessing the case.

Sincerely

1. Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
2. CIVICUS Global Alliance
3. Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF)
4. Entraide et Fraternité -Belgium
5. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
6. Guatemala Solidarity Network - GSN- UK
7. Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders
8. Law Society of England and Wales
9. Prisoners of Conscience- London
10. Protección Internacional Mesoamérica
11. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

Please also write to the Guatemalan authorities and the Guatemalan diplomatic missions in your respective countries.