OJ accepts the resignation of Miguel Ángel Gálvez and orders the judge to be removed from the call
One day after former judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez announced his resignation from exile, The Judicial Branch (OJ) communicated this Wednesday, November 16, that his resignation was accepted and that the position to direct the Court of Higher Risk “B” was called.
Rudy Esquivel, OJ spokesman, confirmed that the full magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) decided to accept the resignation of Gálvez, who last Tuesday night during an interview with CNN in Spanish officially declared himself in exile, because he assures that in Guatemala there are no guarantees to return.
“Regarding the resignation of Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez Aguilar, it is confirmed that it was accepted. It has also been ordered to take the place out by call ”, says a text message sent by Esquivel.
Gálvez, who convicted Efraín Ríos Montt of genocide and sent former president Otto Pérez and his former vice president Roxana Baldetti to prison for corruption, resigned last Tuesday denouncing the lack of judicial independence in Guatemala.
“Today (Tuesday) I submitted my resignation from the position of first instance judge of the criminal branch,” Gálvez said in a video posted on the social network Twitter.
Gálvez went to Costa Rica at the beginning of November for a forum, but his whereabouts are unknown and as confirmed by the lawyer he stayed abroad, although the exact destination is unknown.
The judge was facing a process to strip him of his immunity at the request of an organization that accuses him of ordering “illegal detentions” of retired soldiers.
“Right now judicial independence is being manipulated and the processes are not being guaranteed accordingly,” said Gálvez, who since 2016 has had precautionary measures ordered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Gálvez’s resignation is added to the departure of several former anti-mafias prosecutors and judges from the country due to proceedings against them promoted by Attorney General Consuelo Porras, appointed last May by President Alejandro Giammattei for four more years in office.
Other former prosecutors have been imprisoned at the request of the Public Ministry in charge of Porras, sanctioned last year by the United States that included it in a list of “corrupt and undemocratic” people, or Engel List.
The Public Ministry (MP) has repeatedly denied the allegations made by former judges and prosecutors who have left the country and points out that it is a constitutional obligation for the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate all complaints filed.
“The legal and constitutional mandate of the Public Ministry is clear: “it is an institution with autonomous functions, it promotes criminal prosecution and directs the investigation of crimes of public action; in addition to ensuring strict compliance with the laws of the country”, the Prosecutor’s Office recently said.
“During the time I worked, I had not understood as I do now that justice is a matter of power and not control of power,” Gálvez said.
The judge gained notoriety in 2013 by sending former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983) to trial for genocide. The retired general was sentenced by a court to 80 years in prison, but the Constitutional Court ordered a repeat trial.
Ríos Montt passed away on April 1, 2018, at the age of 91, while the new trial took place behind closed doors and without his presence because he was diagnosed with dementia and other diseases.
The judge also sent former President Otto Pérez and his former Vice President Roxana Baldetti (2012-2015) to prison. accused of directing a structure of fraud in customs, accusation that forced them to resign in 2015. A court is scheduled to issue a sentence against both in the coming weeks.
Gálvez in his message called on the Guatemalan population to organize and not be robbed “the possibilities of a justice that we yearn for”.
With information from AFP
