Case History: Sotero Adalberto Villatoro
On 22 July 2016, the High Risk Tribunal A in Guatemala City ordered the immediate release of Francisco Juan Pedro, Adalberto Villatoro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Domingo Baltazar, Mynor López, Bernardo Ermitaño López yRigoberto Juárez. The seven environmental rights defenders and indigenous leaders had been detained for between one and three years on unfounded charges related to their peaceful opposition to extractive and hydroelectric projects in Huehuetenango. The cases of the "7 of Huehuetenango" had been recently regrouped into one process with public oral hearings having started on 6 July.
Sotero Adalberto Villatoro works in the municipality of Santa Cruz Barillas, department of Huehuetenango. Since 2008, he has played a key role in the defence of natural resources, and acted as a mediator in conflicts between civil society and state authorities, particularly regarding the hydroelectric projects of Santa Cruz Barillas, initiated in 2008 by the company Hidro Santa Cruz (a Guatemalan subsidiary of a Spanish company). These projects have met with strong opposition by the indigenous peoples of the municipality, who believe that their rights to prior consultation were violated by the company.
On 22 July 2016, the High Risk Tribunal A in Guatemala City ordered the immediate release of Francisco Juan Pedro, Adalberto Villatoro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Domingo Baltazar, Mynor López, Bernardo Ermitaño López yRigoberto Juárez. The seven environmental rights defenders and indigenous leaders had been detained for between one and three years on unfounded charges related to their peaceful opposition to extractive and hydroelectric projects in Huehuetenango. The cases of the "7 of Huehuetenango" had been recently regrouped into one process with public oral hearings having started on 6 July.
The human rights defenders have acted as mediators in conflicts between indigenous communities and state authorities, particularly regarding government supported hydroelectric projects in Santa Cruz Barillas. The construction of the latter begun in 2008 by the company Hidro Santa Cruz (the Guatemalan subsidiary of a Spanish company).
On September 2013, human rights defender Mynor Manuel López was taken into custody after unsubstantiated accusations were made against him by employees of the local subsidiary of energy company Ecoener Hidralia Energía. He remained in detention for almost three years in Huehuetenango prison. Between January and June 2015, fellow human rights defenders Francisco Juan Pedro, Adalberto Villatoro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Domingo Baltazar, Bernardo Ermitaño López and Rigoberto Juárez were also arrested on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations in what appeared to be retaliation for their peaceful human rights work and their roles as traditional indigenous authorities in their communities.
The accusations levelled against the defenders were seemingly motivated by their participation in various peaceful demonstrations in Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango. The complaints submitted against the defenders were put forward by employees and public officials of the Justice Administration Center (Centro de Administración de Justicia, CAJ) of Santa Eulalia, the former mayor of Santa Eulalia and workers of the company Hidro Santa Cruz. The Prosecutor's Office largely based its investigation on a document issued by the company Hidro Santa Cruz, in which it accused the six human rights defenders of forming part of a criminal network in Huehuetenango. The defenders remained in prison during the entire judicial process.
On 22 July 2016, the High Risk Tribunal A in Guatemala City, presided over by Judge Yassmín Barrios, ordered the immediate release of the "7 of Huehuetenango ". In a unanimous decision the judges absolved Francisco Juan Pedro, Adalberto Villatoro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Domingo Baltazar and Mynor López of all charges. By majority, the judges declared Bernardo Ermitaño López guilty of 'obstructing legal action' and, in the case of Rigoberto Juárez, found him guilty of 'coercion'. However, the judges ordered their release due to time served in detention. Presiding Judge Yassmín Barrios, an internationally renowned jurist celebrated for her historic verdict in the genocide case against former head of State General Efraín Ríos Montt, publicly stated her disagreement with fellow judges in their decision to uphold the charges against the two human rights defenders. Judge Barrios also recalled the role of judges in upholding truth and justice, as opposed to being tools of private interests.
Rigoberto Juárez and Domingo Baltazar are still to face trial on another set of charges, also related to a previous demonstration in front of the San Luis hydroelectric dam. The first hearing is scheduled for April 2017.
Human rights defenders in Guatemala are systematically subject to baseless criminal proceedings with the aim of hindering their work, delegitimising their causes and damaging their credibility. Peaceful human rights work centred around organising and mobilising communities to advocate for common interests are portrayed as 'riotous' and 'disorderly'. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, "one of the more serious human rights protection deficiencies in recent years is the trend towards the use of laws and the justice system to penalize and criminalize social protest activities and legitimate demands made by indigenous organizations and movements in defence of their rights.”
The observations of the UN Special Rapporteur are echoed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, whose 2015 report on "Criminalisation of Human Rights Defenders" identifies the use of arbitrary detention as a mechanism to impede the work of human rights defenders at moments that are crucial to the causes they advocate for. The Commission also identified a strategy whereby defenders are charged with serious offences, such as murder or kidnapping, in order to secure their indefinite detention as they await trial.
Front Line Defenders welcomes the decision of High Risk Tribunal A to release all seven human rights defenders after a protracted and unjustified detention; however it condemns the decision to uphold the charges against Bernardo Ermitaño López and Rigoberto Juárez, and expects that, in accordance with the State's international obligations, the human rights defenders who remained unfairly in prison will be properly compensated.
A new hearing in the case against human rights defender and indigenous leader Mr Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes is expected to be held on 13 April 2016. On 31 March 2016 the human rights defender had the charges of illegal detention, obstruction of justice and incitement to crime confirmed by the Tribunal de Sentencia de Mayor Riesgo A (Court for Sentencing of High Risk A), which ordered that his case should now move to the next stage. The Court dropped other previous charges issued against him including assault, plagiarism and kidnapping due to a lack of evidence. Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes remains in pre-trial detention in Huehuetenango along with six other human rights defenders who have also been subjected to trumped-up charges; Messrs. Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Mynor López, Francisco Juan Pedro, Domingo Baltazar and Rigoberto Juarez.
All of the above-mentioned human rights defenders work in the northern department of Huehuetenango and have played a key role in the defence of environmental and indigenous rights in the region. The human rights defenders have acted as mediators in conflicts between indigenous communities and state authorities, particularly regarding the large-scale, government supported hydroelectric projects of Santa Cruz Barillas, initiated in 2008 by the company Hidro Santa Cruz (the Guatemalan subsidiary of a Spanish company). These projects have been met with strong opposition from local populations, including indigenous communities, amid reports of arbitrary detentions, repression, militarization and the killing of people from the maya q'anjob'al ethnic group since the initiation of the projects.
The preliminary hearing that took place on 31 March 2016 confirmed several of the charges that were presented against Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes on 9 June 2015. The human rights defender was detained on 2 June 2015 by Guatemalan National Police (PNC) in Guatemala City and has remained in pre-trial detention since.
Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro and Arturo Pablo Juan also remain in pre-trial detention on trumped-up charges that include threats, illegal detention and illicit association. Similarly to what happened with Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes, in October 2015, the charges against them of plagiarism and kidnapping were dropped, but the judicial case will proceed under the remaining fabricated charges. The environmental rights defenders were arrested on 26 February 2015 when the Seventh Chamber of the Huehuetenango Court of Appeals on Criminal Drug Activities and Crimes against the Environment reinstated a decision issued by a lower court in January 2015 ordering their preventive detention.
Rigoberto Juárez and Domingo Baltazar were arrested on 24 March 2015 under false accusations of leading a group of people to destroy equipment belonging to a hydroelectric project in San Luis, jurisdiction of Santa Eulalia, in December 2014. Although they were ordered to be placed under house arrest for these accusations, they were re-arrested on the same day under different accusations, for allegedly organising roadblocks to demand the release of other indigenous detainees from Barillas, Huehuetenango. The human rights defenders remain in pre-trial detention on fabricated charges of coercion, threats, incitement to crime, obstruction of justice, plagiarism and kidnapping.
The investigation and judicial processes of the defenders have been marked by irregularities. The Prosecutor's Office has based its investigation on a document issued by the company Hidro Santa Cruz itself, in which it accuses human rights defenders Bernardo Ermitaño López, Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Domingo Baltazar and Rigoberto Juárez of forming part of a criminal network in Huehuetenango.
The implementation of extractive mega-projects in Guatemala has been accompanied by the harassment and intimidation of those working to defend the rights of the local populations against the abuses committed by the extractive companies. There is an alarming trend of judicial harassment and criminalisation against indigenous human rights defenders working on these issues, which has been on the rise since 2014.
It is also a matter of concern that kidnapping charges have been used against human rights defenders, for the sole purpose of keeping them in pre-trial detention indefinitely, preventing them from resuming their human rights work. Prolonged arbitrary preventive detention is a trend identified by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in its report Criminalization of Human Rights Defenders, published in 2015. Under Guatemalan law, if a person faces kidnapping charges, he or she can be held in preventive detention for the duration of the process. The case of Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes is an example, in which it took almost 10 months – after several adjournments – for the Guatemalan judicial system to conclude the preliminary stage of the case and move to the next phase.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern at the development of legal proceedings against Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes, Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Rigoberto Juárez, Mynor López and Domingo Baltazar and their arbitrary pre-trial detention, which it believes to be a clear attempt to halt their legitimate work in the defence of human rights, and to dissuade Guatemalan communities from attempting to exercise their rights. Furthermore, it expresses concern at the persistent attempts by the Guatemalan authorities to criminalise human rights defenders in the country, and in particular indigenous and environmental rights defenders.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Guatemala to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally release Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes, Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Rigoberto Juárez, Mynor López and Domingo Baltazar, as Front Line Defenders believes that they are being held solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
2. Drop all of the remaining charges against Bernardo Ermitaño López Reyes, Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro, Arturo Pablo Juan, Rigoberto Juárez, Mynor López and Domingo Baltazar ;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Guatemala are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
Environmental rights defenders Messrs Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro and Arturo Pablo Juan remain in detention following the postponement of the hearing of their challenge to their detention, originally scheduled for 6 March 2015. The human rights defenders are accused of charges including threats, illegal detention, illicit association, plagiarism and abduction. On 3 March 2015, the three indigenous peoples' community leaders were transferred from the prison in Huehuetenango to the remand prison in the city of Guatemala.
The human rights defenders were reportedly transferred to Guatemala City due to fears that their community was planning to break them out of prison. They were not notified of the application for their transfer and were not presented with any evidence regarding fears of an escape. The date for their hearing has not yet been rescheduled.
On 26 February 2015, the Seventh Chamber of the Huehuetenango Court of Appeals on Criminal Drug Activities and Crimes against the Environment ordered the pre-trial detention of Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro and Arturo Pablo Juan. In doing so, the Court of Appeals reinstated the decision of the First Instance Criminal Court of the Santa Eulalia municipality made on 23 January 2015. That decision had been overturned by the Court of First Instance itself later the same day, but the decision not to hold the human rights defenders in preventative detention was the subject of a constitutional challenge by the company Hidro Santa Cruz, which was a joint plaintiff party in the proceedings.
The unsubstantiated accusations against Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro and Arturo Pablo Juan were brought by an employee of Hidro Santa Cruz on 23 April 2013. The employee claimed that the human rights defenders detained him and threatened him to make him resign and sign a statement declaring that he had done so. On 25 November 2013, the company joined the case as a joint plaintiff. The decision of the company came after the three human rights defenders organised a community assembly in October 2013, which aimed to initiate a dialogue with the workers of the company Hidro Santa Cruz to avoid clashes with the local population. During this assembly, agreements were reportedly signed between the company and the indigenous peoples from Barillas, that non-violence and collective decisions shall be respected.
Sources confirm that several other community leaders have faced similar legal proceedings against them by the hydroelectric company Hidro Santa Cruz, which are aimed at intimidating and preventing them from continuing their peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of environmental rights and indigenous peoples' rights.
