Guatemalan Legal System
Criticized
Guatemala - The International Commission against Impunity in
Guatemala (CICIG) charged that releasing former Crime against Life
Prosecutor Alvaro Matus on parole shows the weakness of the
country's legal system.
Matus was accused of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the
investigation into the assassination of the former advisor to the
Government Ministry, Victor Rivera, in April 2008.
However, he was exonerated of those charges and will be tried for
abuse of power and incompliance with his duties.
Bail was set at 1,920 dollars and instead of being sent to prison,
he is doing home arrest.
CICIG Director Carlos Castresana questioned the decisions made by
the Attorney's Office and Judge Rolando Rodriguez, and stressed that
escalating impunity in the country is the result of a network rooted
in the legal system.
According to the lawyer, if 98 percent of crimes remain unpunished,
that proves that the entire system is a failure.
Castresana promised to prove the conspiracy in Matus's case and to
take all criminals to justice, including prosecutors, judges,
lawyers, politicians and even journalists.
For her part, Veronica Godoy, of the Monitoring and Support for
Public Security Agency, lamented the weak charges filed against the
ex prosecutor, because they feed people's distrust. |
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