Jorge and Marcelino, sentenced to 35 years for a murder they didn’t commit
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Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul are Q’eqchi Mayan indigenous leaders and members of an organisation based in the Verapaces region, called Peasants’ Committee of the Highlands (CCDA). The CCDA strives to reduce inequality and increase the participation of marginalized rural and indigenous communities in social, economic, cultural and political life, and advocates against land grabbing by powerful landowners. For over ten years, their community of Choctun Basilá, near the regional capital Cobán, has been in a land dispute with the company Cooperativa Chilté, which has exacted a heavy toll: a campaign of criminalisation and attacks against the CCDA that culminated in the killing of six of its members and the arbitrary detention of Jorge and Marcelino.
In Guatemala, the criminal justice system is systematically misused against human rights defenders who work for justice and against impunity, and peacefully protect their communities against powerful interests, including those of large corporations and landowners. Those working on land and indigenous rights are particularly targeted. In addition to unfounded lawsuits, beatings and even killings are frequent, with hardly any culprits brought to justice. In this context, they were moving targets.
Arrest under false accusations
Far from being a simple judicial error, Jorge and Marcelino’s story is emblematic of the battle for land, water and other natural resources playing out in Guatemala, one of the most unequal countries in the world. On one side, there is a tiny elite that controls the State, presiding over a predatory economic system where resources are in the hands of a few, supported by a judiciary that often lacks independence. On the other, indigenous communities defending their ancestral lands against forced evictions, logging and mining, who operate in a highly hostile and dangerous environment.
On 13th of July 2017, a worker from Cooperativa Chilté, in the northern highlands of Guatemala, was killed, while several were injured. At the time, Jorge was at home, caring for his sick father. Marcelino was teaching in a community several hours away. Both men were nonetheless arrested, Jorge on the 16th of January and Marcelino on the 12th of March 2018, on charges of “homicide” and “attempted homicide” in the case. Since the day of their arrest, they were held at the pre-trial detention facility of Cobán Alta Verapaz until 2021. Despite serious inconsistencies in the testimonies of the witnesses and the acquittal of two other people arrested under the same charges, they were sentenced in October 2019 to 35 years in prison, without parole.
The race for appeals
On the 20th of July 2022, their lawyers filed for an extraordinary appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice. It ruled in November of that year that despite some contradictions in the case, valid points were made by the prosecution and both defenders had to remain in prison. After the refusal of their last appeal to the Constitutional court in 2023, both men had run through their possible appeals, risking spending their life in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
Today, the case is awaiting an audience in front of the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights (CIDH). During several visits from civil society organisations, their members witnessed the terrible circumstances of the prison system in which both men were living. Jorge and Marcelino have been transferred to the prison facility of Puerto Barrios, Izabal. This means that they are now 290km away from their families, which is the equivalent of nearly seven hours of travel.
Please, join us in calling for the release of Jorge Coc Coc and Marceline Xol Cucul.