Guatemala's former anti-corruption prosecutor Virgina Laparra was sentenced on Friday December 16 to four years in prison for abuse of authority following a trial denounced by human rights organizations.
"The defendant Virgina Laparra is responsible to the degree of perpetrator for the crime of continuous abuse of authority committed against the public administration (...) and is sentenced to four years of commutable imprisonment"
, declared the president of the capital court, Oly Gonzalez, on reading the recitals.
"It's a legal aberration,"
said Virginia Laparra, imprisoned for 10 months but who can be released early by paying bail because the sentence is commutable.
Leaving the court in handcuffs while around fifty supporters chanted
"Virginia is innocent"
and
"out the corrupt"
, she was able to speak to the press.
"We are going through a difficult time in the country and this is a terrible precedent because never again will a prosecutor dare to file a complaint
," she said.
"This conviction is another example of the criminalization of justice actors in Guatemala (...) Virginia Laparra is a prisoner of conscience who is paying a high price for her work as an anti-corruption prosecutor"
, reacted the director of Amnesty International for the Americas, Ericka Guevara Rosas.
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Virginia Laparra had been arrested and removed from her post in a crackdown on anti-corruption prosecutors.
Thursday, during her final speech in this trial, which began 18 days ago, she had, in tears, said she was the victim of persecution.
She claimed the charges against her were
“revenge”
by a plaintiff organization in the trial, the Anti-Terrorism Foundation, known for defending Guatemalan politicians accused of corruption and military officers accused of crimes during the war. civil war (1960-1996).
The Foundation
"is not against terrorism, it is a foundation to instill terror"
, said the one who was at the head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity (FECI) of Quetzaltenango, in the west of the Guatemala.
Five judges from the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity and a former representative of the UN Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) were arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and abuse of authority.
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The United States has listed Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras as a
"corrupt actor"
for
"repeatedly obstructing and undermining anti-corruption investigations in Guatemala to protect her political allies and obtain undue political favors"
. according to the US State Department.
Consuelo Porras was reappointed in May for a new four-year term by Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei.