Rafael Curruchiche must be investigated for the same crime as Virginia Laparra. Art: Alejandro Ramírez / LH
The Sixth Criminal Court ordered the Public Ministry (MP) to resume an investigation against the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity in Guatemala (Feci), Rafael Curruchiche, after the investigating entity sought to dismiss the complaint that the former head of said prosecutor’s office, Juan Francisco Sandoval, filed against him.
In the case, Sandoval filed a complaint against his successor whom he accused of revealing confidential or reserved information, since under the argument the case is under confidentiality, he has not been allowed to access the judicial file of the case against him; However, in the media, Curruchiche stated that a criminal case was opened against Sandoval for allegedly not having provided information about an investigation against former president Alejandro Giammattei, a case that is being heard before the Seventh Criminal Court.
The decision of the sixth criminal judge is a sign that the MP does not investigate the events of which we, those criminalized and illegitimately persecuted, are victims and protects its officials who have caused us so many grievances.
Curruchiche must be investigated and prosecuted. pic.twitter.com/AJZR2M2TDG
— Juan Francisco Sandoval (@JSandoval1982) October 28, 2024
Just as the MP accused Virginia Laparra and on two occasions requested sentences against her for the revelation of information, this time, Sandoval assured that Curruchiche violated those regulations by giving those statements to the media, but the same MP only carried out two procedures in the complaint that he filed against the current head of the Feci and asked Judge Carlos Toledo to dismiss the case.
«In the very poor investigation in which I opposed, the prosecutor’s office only requested information about the place where Rafael Curruchiche, who is known to be the head of the Feci, carries out his duties, and a response from the general directorate of the National Civil Police, in which states that I have no police record,” Sandoval explained through his social networks, referring that these two elements were the only means used by the prosecution to request the closure of the investigation.
Given this situation, Sandoval’s defense presented its opposition to the closure, so Toledo agreed to it and ordered the MP to reopen the case and investigate Curruchiche. “The ruling is a sign that the MP does not investigate the events of which criminalized people are victims,” Sandoval emphasized.
INVESTIGATED AND CONVICTED
In 2022 and 2024, the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court and the Quetzaltenango Criminal Sentencing Court convicted former prosecutor Virginia Laparra for the same crime.
At that time, the Prosecutor’s Office assured that Laparra violated the confidentiality of the cases he was in charge of, revealing information in other processes that he carried out in other courts, which resulted in him receiving sentences of four and five years, respectively, for the same crime. , in the same case.
They impose a second sentence on Virginia Laparra for revealing information
Laparra assured that it was not about justice, but about persecution against him. “The justice system in Guatemala does not work, the justice system supports corrupt people… if that is why I am a criminal, I feel proud,” she said after receiving her second conviction, for the same crime for which Curruchiche must now be investigated. .
