After losing immunity, Guatemalan president seeks to avoid arrest “spectacle”

GUATEMALA CITY, September 2nd, 2015 (EFE) A day after lawmakers lifted his immunity from prosecution, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina placed himself at the disposition of the judicial system to try and avoid the “spectacle” his arrest on corruption charges would create.

Defense attorney Cesar Calderon said he filed Perez Molina’s declaration placing himself at the disposition of Judge Miguel Angel Galvez.

Calderon said that for the moment this is the only court action he will take for his client and he will continue to wait until the president is called to testify on the accusations against him.

The lawyer commented that with his decision to place himself at the disposition of the court, Perez Molina runs the risk that his capture will be ordered because “what they want is to make a spectacle of this case.”

Authorities earlier secured a court order barring the president from leaving the country.

Perez Molina on Tuesday was divested of his immunity by Congress after being designated by the Attorney General’s Office and the U.N.-sponsored CICIG commission as one of the leaders of the “La Linea” customs fraud network, which was broken up in April.

The Supreme Court must now appoint one of its members to oversee the investigation of the president, who has denied any involvement in the La Linea case.

Guatemalans are set to go to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to Perez Molina, whose term ends in January.