Sepur Zarco: Luz Méndez talks about the emblematic case for sexual slavery
Luz Méndez, former director and current board member of the National Union of Guatemalan Women (UNAMG) spoke with NISGUA about the historic Sepur Zarco case that is currently being prosecuted in Guatemalan courts. UNAMG is one of the organizations that make up the Alliance to End Silence and Impunity and is one of the plaintiff organizations in the case – [...]
Land defenders Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez finally return home
On January 22, 2016, after spending more than two years in prison, wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, land defenders Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez were finally able to return to their homes in Santa Cruz Barillas. They arrived to a warm welcome from thousands of community members and supporters. Despite a trial fraught with irregularities and a [...]
Day 1: Despite stall tactics by the defense, Sepur Zarco case opens in Guatemalan courts
The first case in the world to be tried in a domestic court for sexual and domestic slavery opened in Guatemala City today, for crimes against humanity committed at the Sepur Zarco military base in the early 1980s. At the national level, this is the first time a court in Guatemala is considering a case of sexual violence to [...]
Today: Justice for Women
Español abajo. Press Release Sepur Zarco Trial January 31, 2016 Today: Justice for Women For more than 30 years, women survivors of sexual violence, sexual slavery and domestic slavery from Sepur Zarco have waited for justice. On February 1, the trial will begin in the Sala de Vistas of the Supreme Court, giving the women the chance to continue their [...]
CREOMPAZ: Eleven retired military officers indicted on charges of crimes against humanity
Today, 11 former military were indicted on charges of forced disappearance and crimes against humanity committed between 1981 and 1988, based on evidence uncovered at the CREOMPAZ military center in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. Judge Claudette Domínguez of the High-Risk Crimes Court "A" ordered all 11 to be sent to preventative prison at the Mariscal Zavala Military Brigade to await the opening [...]
Political prisoners Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez finally released!
We celebrate the release yesterday of Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez, two community leaders wrongly convicted of homicide in a 2014 trial plagued with irregularities. Saúl and Rogelio were sentenced to 33 years in prison, despite major holes in the prosecution's evidence linking them to the murder. After winning a special appeal and going through a retrial in Quetzaltenango last [...]