Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). 

You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo.

The Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR)and the Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala (ODHAG)

To the national and international public, we state:

THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT PROTECTS CRIMINALS AND VIOLATES VICTIMS’ RIGHT TO JUSTICE

Yesterday, June 24, 2025, we were notified of a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court—against the provisional injunction previously granted to us by the Chamber of Injunctions and the Supreme Court of Justice—thereby favoring retired General Manuel Benedicto Lucas García. Between April and November 2024, General Lucas García faced more than 100 hearings before High-Risk Court group “A,” in which all scientific, testimonial, and expert evidence was presented, leaving no doubt as to his responsibility, knowledge, and participation in the deaths of a minimum of 1,900 people and up to 28,000 victims of massacres, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and sexual violence against the Ixil Maya population. He is accused of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Enforced Disappearance, and Sexual Violence.

This resolution, which violates due process, was approved by the Magistrates of impunity: LEYLA SUSANA LEMUS ARRIAGA, ROBERTO MOLINA BARRETO, HECTOR HUGO PÉREZ AGUILERA, NESTER MAURICIO VASQUEZ PIMENTEL, LUIS ALFONSO ROSALES MARROQUÍN Y EDWIN EDUARDO LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ. The only honorable magistrate who adhered to the law, due process, and justice was Magistrate RONY EULALIO LÓPEZ CONTRERAS whom we respectfully acknowledge.

AJR and ODHAG express our strongest rejection and disagreement. We consider this a grievous ruling, yet another example of the magistrates favoring impunity in cases of serious human rights violations committed during the Internal Armed Conflict (CAI).

This is a ruling we anticipated from the current Constitutional Court, given that some of its members have shown a pattern of attacking the rights of the CAI victims in order to protect the interests of the perpetrators. Even worse, Molina Barreto and Rosales Marroquín annulled the guilty verdict against the genocidal dictator Ríos Montt, and Molina Barreto ran for vice president in the political party run by Ríos Montt’s daughter and actors such as the so-called Anti-Terrorism Foundation (Fundación Contra el Terrorismo).

As stated in the dissenting and dignified vote of Magistrate López Contreras, this ruling sets a “dangerous precedent for Guatemalan criminal justice.” It also constitutes a “fraudulent mechanism for the indefinite interruption” and improper suspension of any trial, a mechanism that is equivalent to the “destruction of an oral trial, violating principles of legality, continuity, expeditiousness, and legal certainty.” The magistrates are burying an entire year of proceedings, just when the High-Risk Court “A” was on the verge of issuing its verdict.

As survivors, witnesses, family members, daughters, and sons, we remain firmly committed to justice, and this ruling will not stop us. We will seek other mechanisms and spaces to bring this case to justice–justice we have been waiting for for more than 40 years.

Finally, we call on the national and international community to denounce this latest unjust ruling and to support victims’ and survivors’ right to justice.

TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT FOR THE PERPETRATORS OF GENOCIDE

Guatemala, June 25, 2025

Original statement in spanish // Comunicado original en español: