El Periodico |
Prensa Libre |
Siglo XXI |
This is tough loss for CICIG, the Attorney General's office, and the people of Guatemala. In January I wrote that
Portillo will be the first former president to stand trial in Guatemala, so it is an important test of the CICIG-improved justice system. Hopefully, the trial will not prove as much of an embarrassment as the recent acquittal in Mexico of a man who bragged about killing his girlfriend.
Whatever the outcome, Portillo will probably have to stand trial in the US and/or France at some point as well.
I'm afraid it is an embarrassment one way or another. If Portillo is indeed innocent, CICIG and the Public Prosecutor's office do not look good because they brought the case against him when they lacked sufficient evidence to convict. However if Portillo is indeed guilty of the crimes that he has been accused of, then this brings into serious doubt any improvement in the country's criminal justice system.
Portillo is not out of the woods yet. He can still be extradited to the United States to face charges. I imagine that his acquittal yesterday will make his extradition less likely, but I really don't know.
While the Guatemalan criminal justice system suffered a severe setback in Portillo's trial, the prosecutor's office and CICIG redeemed themselves did win convictions in the murder of Victor Rivera, a former advisor to the country's Interior Minister.
No comments:
Post a Comment