Colombian key in Guatemala forced disappearance case

[Judi Lynn]

Colombian key in Guatemala forced disappearance case
Friday, 12 November 2010 08:34 Beatriz Vejarano

Testimony by Colombian statistical expert Daniel Guzmán provided key evidence in the conviction of two former police officers found guilty in the 1984 forced disappearance of Guatemalan student and union leader Edgar Fernando García. In a historical ruling, two former officers of the Guatemalan National Police - disbanded in 1996 as part of the peace accords ending the internal armed conflict - were each sentenced to the maximum term of 40 years in prison for their role in García’s disappearance.

On October 28, 2010, twenty-six years after the crime against García, the Eighth Tribunal of the Guatemalan Supreme Court in Guatemala City sentenced Abraham Lancerio Gómez and Héctor Roderico Ramírez just ten days after the start of the case. Two other former officers suspected in the crime remain at large. The verdict has established forced disappearance as a crime in the Guatemalan judicial system and prompted the Guatemalan Public Ministry to investigate other members of the National Police involved in the case, high-ranking officers among them. “I feel proud to have been able to support justice in Guatemala with my statistical, technical contribution,” said Guzmán, who is a consultant for the Human Rights Data Analysis Group at Benetech, a California nonprofit. “Most importantly, García's family is starting to believe some kind of justice is possible.”

The trial in the case of Edgar Fernando García´s disappearance in Guatemala is exceptional in several respects. First, the sentences against the two former policemen are the first based on evidence found by researchers among the estimated 31.7 million documents contained in the Historical Archive of the National Police. Second the guilty ruling against the accused is the third such verdict passed in Guatemala against forced disappearance. Since there were two similar rulings issued in 2009, this most recent verdict will establish a lasting judicial precedent for future cases that can help hold other perpetrators accountable.

Edgar Fernando García was 26 years old, an engineering student, union activist, and member of the clandestine Guatemalan Workers´ Party (PGT in Spanish), when he was detained by National Police agents on a Guatemala City street. His whereabouts are still unknown. With his disappearance on February 18, 1984, he left his young wife and 18-month old daughter behind.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/opinion/guests/12878-colombian-key-in-guatemala-forced-disappearance-case.html