Civil society organizations condemn ongoing criminalization of human rights defenders Claudia Samayoa and José Martínez
April 2nd, 2019.
We the undersignedorganizations are gravelly alarmed by the ongoing, targeted criminalization ofhuman rights defenders in Guatemala including the recent judicial harassment ofdefenders Mrs. Claudia Virginia Samayoa Pineda and Mr. José Manuel MartínezCabrera. The targeted judicial harassment of Ms. Samayoa Pineda and Mr.Martinez Cabrera is illustrative of the authorities’ growing intolerance ofindependent dissent, including defenders working on land and environmentaldefense.
Mrs. Samayoa Pineda isPresident of the Board of Directors of UDEFEGUA, an organization which works tosupport human rights defenders in Central America, and member of the OMCTExecutive Committee; while Mr. José Manuel Martínez Cabrera is a member of theJusticia Ya Collective, a citizen movement which opposes corruption andimpunity. Both human rights defenders are being subjected to a criminalcomplaint by Mr. Nester Mauricio Vásquez Pimentel, in his capacity as Presidentof the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) and representing the CSJ, on spuriouscharges of illegally obtaining a court document and influence peddling. It isbroadly acknowledged that civil society groups, including UDEFEGUA and theJusticia Ya collective, have been instrumental in the fight against impunityand public corruption in the country.
The criminal case againstboth defenders is a direct response to a complaint the defenders filed onJanuary 17, 2019 requesting the withdrawal of the privilege of immunity from 11judges of the CSJ. The complaint contends that the 11 judges breached theConstitution of Guatemala and committed judicial prevarication by allowingcriminal proceedings against three judges from the Constitutional Court (CC).Along with the complaint presented to CSJ on January 17, 2019, Ms. SamayoaPineda and Mr. Martínez Cabrera annexed a copy of the CSJ decision which allowsthe criminal proceedings against the CC judges to continue. Despite the factthat this document had been widely circulated in the national press and on socialmedia, the President of the CSJ is accusing these two human rights defenders ofillegally obtaining it.
The criminalization of bothdefenders is yet another example of the targeted reprisals leveled againstcivil society organisations and human rights defenders that have mobilisedagainst a series of attacks on Guatemala's democratic institutional framework.Among other worrying attempts to undermine democratic norms and the rule of lawin Guatemala, the authorities have sought to delegitimize the judges of theConstitutional Court and unilaterally cancel an agreement with the UN endingthe International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).
In the framework of ourcommitment to justice and human rights, we make a public call to the GuatemalanGovernment to:
1) End all acts ofharassment, misuse of criminal law and criminalization against individuals andcommunities that defend human rights in Guatemala, including Ms. ClaudiaVirginia Samayoa Pineda and Mr. José Manuel Martínez Cabrera. In particular, weask the Public Ministry to dismiss the criminal complaint against both humanrights defenders.
2) Adopt the mostappropriate measures to guarantee the safety and physical and psychologicalintegrity of Ms. Claudia Virginia Samayoa Pineda and Mr. José Manuel MartínezCabrera and of all human rights defenders in Guatemala.
3) Protect, respect andguarantee the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms in allregions of Guatemala, as well as the validity of a democratic State.
Signatory organisations:
350.org
Action Aid, Guatemala
African Centre for Justiceand Peace Studies (ACJPS), Sudan
Alianza Frente a laCriminalización (AFC), Guatemala
Asamblea socioambientalde General Roca. Argentina
Asian Legal ResourceCentre (ALRC)
Asociación Ambiente ySociedad - Colombia
Asociación COMUNICARTE,Guatemala
Asociación de Mujeresde Guatemala AMG, España
Asociación deTrabajadoras del Hogar a Domicilio y de Maquila ATRAHDOM
AsociaciónInteramericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA), Colombia
Asociación para unaCiudadanía Participativa (ACI PARTICIPA) – Honduras
Association for HumanRights in Ethiopia (AHRE), Ethiopia
AWID (Association forWomen’s Rights in Development)
Banglar ManabadhikarSuraksha Mancha (MASUM), India
Cambodian Center for HumanRights (CCHR), Cambodia
Carea e.V., Alemania
Center for Justice andInternational Law (CEJIL)
Central General deTrabajadores de Guatemala
Centro de IncidenciaAmbiental de Panamá (CIAM)
CIVICUS
Civil Society OrganizationsNetwork for Development (RESOCIDE), Burkina Faso
Colectivo CADEHO,Alemania
Collectif Guatemala,Francia,
Comité de Familiares delas Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989 (COFAVIC) – Venezuela
Comité de Solidaridadcon los Presos Políticos (CSPP) – Colombia
Comite Noruego desolidaridad con America Latina, Noruega
Committee AgainstTorture, Russian Federation
Comunidades enResistencia Pacífica de La Puya, Guatemala
Confederación Unitariade Trabajadores de Honduras
Congregation of Our Lady ofCharity of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces
Consorcio para eldiálogo parlamentario y la equidad Oaxaca A.C .- México CoordinadoraCivil-Nicaragua
Coordinadora Nacionalde Derechos Humanos (CNDDHH) - Perú
CUTH
Derecho Ambiente yRecursos Naturales DAR (Perú)
Dienst fuer Mission,Oekumene und Entwicklung der Evangelischen Landeskirche Stuttgart, Alemania DKAAustria
Federación Guatemaltecade Escuelas Radiofónicas (FGER), Guatemala
Festivales Solidarios,Guatemala
Foro de OrganizacionesNo Gubernamentales Internacionales en Guatemala (FONGI)
Front Line Defenders
Fundación Ambiente yRecursos Naturales (FARN)
Fundación CiudadaníaInteligente
Fundación de Estudiospara la Aplicación del Derecho (FESPAD)
Fundación KarmelJuyup’, Guatemala
Fundación para elDebido Proceso (DPLF)
German Zepeda, SolidarityCenter
Global Witness
Guatemala-Netz Zürich
HondurasDelegation,Alemania
Human Rights DefendersNetwork- SL
Iglesia Luterana ILUGUAde Guatemala, Guatemala
Impunity Watch, PaísesBajos
International Commission ofJurists (ICJ)-Kenya, Kenya
International Labor RightsForum (ILRF)
International LandCoalition (ILC) - América Latina y el Caribe
International LandCoalition (ILC) - Secretariat
JASS (Just Associates)
Karapatan Alliance for theAdvancement of People's Rights, Philippines
Kazakhstan InternationalBureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (KIBHRL), Kazakhstan KM207Guatemala-Suisse
Latin America Working Group
Ligue Burundaise des droitsde l’homme Iteka, Burundi
Maryknoll Affiliates
Maryknoll Office for GlobalConcerns
Metro Center,Journalists Rights & Advocacy
Movimiento por la Paz(MPDL)
Mugen Gainetik, delPaís Vasco, España
Oekumenische InitiativeMittelamerika e.V., Alemania
Organización MundialContra la Tortura (OMCT) – Internacional
OXFAM
Oxfam America
Peace Watch Switzerland(PWS), Suiza
People in Need
Philippine Alliance ofHuman Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippines
PlataformaInternacional contra la Impunidad
Presbyterian Church(USA)
Presbyterian PeaceFellowship
Programme Against CustodialTorture & Impunity (PACTI), India
Project on Organizing,Development, Education and Research (PODER)
Protection InternationalMesoamérica
Public Association“Spravedlivost” Jalal-Abad Human Rights Organization, Kyrgyzstan
Public Verdict Foundation,Russian Federation
Reacción Climática, Bolivia
Red Latinoamericana ydel Caribe por la Democracia
Robert F. Kennedy HumanRights
Seguridad en Democracia(SEDEM)
Sindicato detrabajadoras domésticas de maquila, nexas y conexas SITRADOM
Sisters of Mercy of theAmericas - Institute Justice Team
Solidaridad con Guatemalade Austria (Guatemala Solidarität Österreich) SOS-Torture/Burundi, Burundi
The Fund for Global HumanRights
UDEFEGUA, Guatemala
UNSITRAGUA HISTÓRICA
Washington Office on LatinAmerica (WOLA), United States
West African Human RightsDefenders Network
World Movement forDemocracy
ZEB / Zentrum fuerentwicklungspolitische Bildung der Evangelischen Landeskirche Stuttgart,Alemania Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
Invidividual signatories:
Ana Lucía IxchíuHernández, Guatemala
David O., ciudadano delos E.E.U.U.
Dra. Lisette AguilarPrado, Guatemala
Esther Gut de Zurich,Suiza
Eve Chayes Lyman
Iduvina HernándezBatres, Guatemala
Karla AVELAR activistatrans refugiada
Maya Alvarado Chávez,Guatemala
Mirna Ramírez, Guatemala
Padre Cirilo SantamariaSáez, Guatemala
Samwel Mohochi, ExecutiveDirector, ICJ Kenya
Tony Smith, ciudadanode los E.E.U.U.
Victoria Sanford, PhD,Director, Center for Human Rights & Peace Studies, Lehman College, CityUniversity of New York, United States