Guatemala: arrest warrant issued against Juan Francisco Sandoval

Sandoval denies Porras 2:41

(CNN Spanish) -

A Guatemalan court issued an arrest warrant this Friday against the former special prosecutor against impunity Juan Francisco Sandoval, as confirmed by a source from the Ministry of the Interior to CNN.

The order was issued by the Seventh Pluri-personal Criminal Court of First Instance and was received by the National Civil Police this Friday.

It seeks the arrest of Sandoval for alleged crimes of breach of duties and obstruction of criminal action, another source from the Ministry of the Interior explained to CNN.

The arrest warrant is issued a day after the Guatemalan attorney general, María Consuelo Porras, accused Sandoval of generating a "campaign of revenge, disinformation and discredit" in the media against the Public Ministry, and confirmed that the institution he was already conducting several investigations after he revealed "confidential information."

"The acts of disclosure of information through said media, in addition to being unethical, may constitute a crime," Porras explained in a video posted on social networks this Thursday.

Juan Francisco Sandoval defends himself from Porras 10:14

On July 28, the Guatemalan president denied in a press conference the allegations that Sandoval made to the media after his dismissal a few days before, in which he highlighted that he was removed when he collected elements to investigate a delivery of money that supposedly would link the president. with Russian citizens in a corruption scheme.

Giammattei then assured that the information was "totally far from the truth."

advertising

• Former prosecutor Sandoval: The 'sin' was to investigate Government authorities in Guatemala

The arrest warrant does not explain further details about Sandoval's alleged involvement in the crimes he is accused of, the Interior Ministry source explained to CNN.

This Thursday, Sandoval, who is in the United States, had said in a message on Twitter - after it became known that there was an arrest warrant against him - that "the Attorney General prefers to prosecute those of us who have dedicated all our energy and career to investigate the truth and build Justice ".

Jordán Rodás calls for resignation of Guatemala's attorney general 2:13

In his message, Sandoval attached a statement that he had made public that same day in which he assured that Porras "intervened the work of the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI) when it received indications of the possible involvement of President Alejandro Giammattei in corruption structures. ".

Until this Friday, neither Porras nor Giammattei had commented on Sandoval's complaint in the statement and they had not responded to requests for comments sent by CNN since Thursday.

The Guatemalan attorney general removed Sandoval from office at the end of July.

As reported by the Public Ministry at the time, Porras' decision responded to alleged "humiliations" by the former official against the attorney general herself.

Sandoval, who left the country after his dismissal, said before leaving Guatemala that he feared for his safety and that of all FECI personnel and held Porras responsible for what might happen to him and his family.

The former official accused the attorney general of having obstructed several cases that could involve senior officials of the current government, Congress and courts of Justice in Guatemala.

Porras has also not commented on Sandoval's accusations and repeated requests for comments sent by CNN to the Public Ministry have not been answered.