By Rony Ríos and Nelton Rivera
In a hearing that took more than three hours to begin, prosecutor Ángel Saúl Sánchez, from the Patrimonial Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, asked to link the six detained for the takeover of the University of San Carlos (USAC) to trial.
The prosecutor began the argument by saying that the damages to the USAC are quantified at Q90 million, to support his request to prosecute the accused for illicit association, depredation of cultural property, aggravated usurpation and sedition on a continuous basis.
The hearing is presided over by Judge Víctor Manuel Cruz Rivera tenth criminal judge of first instance, who was included by the United States Department of State in the Engel List since July 2022, considered a corrupt actor who has benefited from impunity in high-impact cases in Guatemala.
Lawyer Aníbal García at 9:00 p.m. questioned the MP and demanded that he present evidence on this accusation, stating that until now the prosecution has been unable to present evidence in a timely manner and manner, and that it has not been able to identify any of them. of those detained today.
Sánchez, alleging that university autonomy was “violated,” pointed out the former candidate for deputy Marcela Blanco, the physicist Javier de León, the trade unionist Jorge Macario, the dean of Veterinary Medicine Rodolfo Chang and the professors Eduardo Velásquez and Alfredo Beber.
Within his argument, the prosecutor assured that during the takeover of the university facilities “hatred or revenge was exercised in the house of higher education that belongs to all Guatemalans.” Sánchez also said that the rector was the subject of sedition because there were multiple demonstrations against his appointment in an opaque process in which only his voters participated and opponents were prevented from entering.
Furthermore, the MP prosecutor said that the takeover of the USAC had occurred for political reasons because the students were supported by political actors linked to the political parties VOS, MLP and Movimiento Semilla.
To conclude his argument to link the six accused to the process, Sánchez pointed out that “the tweets and videos have already been cited.”
Lawyer García showed an expert report carried out by the prosecutor’s office itself in which it is confirmed that the deterioration of the university facilities on the Central Campus has its origin in 2020 due to weather conditions and lack of maintenance, a report that contradicts the prosecutor’s arguments.
For his part, the lawyer of union member Martín Jorge Macario, who is part of the USAC Workers Union (STUSC), demands that Marcario lack merit. “It cannot be that everyone has committed the same crimes,” referring to the fact that prosecutor Sánchez read the same accusation against the six accused in this criminal process.
García adds that the university authorities have had an enormous -historical- debt with the university community, since they stopped maintaining the university facilities.
The prosecutor stated that Eduardo Velásquez would have been recognized shaking his fist at several people, a fact with which he proves that the former dean of the Faculty of Economic Sciences would have committed one or more crimes. The prosecution’s argument that he was described on X’s social network as having his head cut off.
Community Press Source
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