In a period of approximately one week, four prisoners were found dead in their cells in the Preventiva Prison in Guatemala City. Although the government initially claimed that they had all committed suicide, forensic tests reportedly found that the deaths were due to drugging followed by strangulation. Two guards and a sub-director of the prison have been jailed. The deaths occurred shortly after two prisoners, both ex-soldiers, claimed to have information about high-level military involvement in death squads. It has been suggested that these apparent killings were an attempt to intimidate imprisoned ex-soldiers from revealing information about death squads. AI is calling for an independent investigation into the deaths and the allegations.
