One year after the conviction of former prosecutor Virginia Laparra, Amnesty International urges the authorities to hasten her release, as ordered by a group of independent United Nations experts who declared her detention to be arbitrary.
On 16 December 2022, Virginia Laparra was sentenced to four years in prison for the crime of abuse of authority, following a trial plagued with irregularities and violations of her human rights, which led Amnesty International to name her a prisoner of conscience.
In May 2023, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that the detention of the former anti-corruption prosecutor was arbitrary and called for her immediate release. However, in a few days Virginia Laparra will have been jailed for 22 months – far away from her two daughters and her family. Recently, the Supreme Court of Justice, which has pending before it an appeal that could allow her conditional release, has twice suspended the hearing to consider the appeal.
“Virginia Laparra is one more victim of unjust criminal prosecution of those defending justice and human rights. She should not spend one more day in jail. We urge the Guatemalan authorities to heed the call of the United Nations Working Group and the entire international community to release her immediately,” said Ana Piquer, Americas Director of Amnesty International.
Virginia Laparra is one more victim of unjust criminal prosecution of those defending justice and human rights. She should not spend one more day in jail. We urge the Guatemalan authorities to heed the call of the United Nations Working Group and the entire international community to release her immediately.
Ana Piquer, Americas Director of Amnesty International
The Guatemalan justice system’s widespread criminalization of justice officials, journalists and human rights defenders who have fought corruption and impunity has forced dozens of people into exile in recent years. It is estimated that at least 45 prosecutors and judges have been forced to flee Guatemala since 2018 to avoid facing the same fate as Virginia Laparra: an unjust and baseless prosecution that would send them to prison.
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