Amnesty International URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE - Human Rights Procurator's Auxiliary Office in Solola

URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE

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Note: Please write on behalf of these people even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on October 16, 2000.
Thanks!

7 August 2002
Further information on UA 315/00 issued 16 October 2000 and re-issued 23 November 2000 and 8 May 2001 Fear for safety New concern:Health Concern/Legal Concern

GUATEMALA
Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz (f)
Urias Bautista Orozco (m)
Other staff of the Human Rights Procurator's Auxiliary Office in Solola


Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz from the governmental Procuradoria Auxiliar de Derechos Humanos (PDH), Human Rights Procurator's Auxiliary
Office in Solola Department in Guatemala's western highlands, was imprisoned in Solola on 16 July. She is awaiting trial on charges
arising from  her work for PDH. Amnesty International is concerned for her health after she reportedly suffered an anxiety attack in prison.

Amnesty International is further concerned that the manner in which the case against Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz is being conducted is also
intended to harass and intimidate her: thus far the authorities have been unwilling to grant her house arrest, permissible under the Code
of Criminal Procedure, although she is a single mother with three young children.The authorities also reportedly intend to transfer her
case to Antigua, Sacatepequez Department, around three hours' journey from her home and children.

The PDH believe that the charges against Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz are both an effort to intimidate her to stop the PDH's efforts to mediate in
local land disputes, and a reprisal for her involvement in investigating the killing of indigenous lands rights demonstrator, Teodoro Saloj, in
October 2000 (see original UA, AMR 34/43/00, 16 October 2000). In November 2000, the PDH office submitted a report to the Public
Prosecutor's Office, Ministerio Publico (MP), which concluded that nine police officers were responsible for the killing. The report called
on the Guatemalan government to take disciplinary action against those responsible and to compensate Saloj's family.

Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz has suffered from stress and related psychological problems since the National Civil Police, Policia Nacional Civil (PNC) charged her with alleged incitement to riot, illegal demonstration and threats after she tried to mediate between demonstrators and the mayor during a public protest on 26 March 2001 at Solola's town hall. Agents present were provoked by a group of juveniles and apparently responded with excessive force, firing tear gas. The police then blamed the PDH for the violence. Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz was then briefly detained in April 2001. However, on 16 July 2002 she went to the local MP's office to request alternatives to imprisonment while awaiting trial, but was immediately imprisoned.

After the PDH in Solola initiated investigations into Saloj's death, workers there began to be harassed and intimidated by local police.  Following Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz's release in April, their offices were placed under surveillance and threatening phone calls were made against the head of the office, Urias Bautista Orozco, and other staff.  There have been no such recent incidents.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals:

• expressing concern for Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz's health and safety;
• calling for the authorities, given Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz's responsibilities as a single mother of three young children, to stop the transferal of her trial to the jurisdiction of another department and to substitute her imprisonment with house arrest as allowed in the Code of Criminal Procedure;
• calling on the authorities to ensure a fair trial in line with internationally recognized legal standards;
• expressing serious concern that government officials mandated to protect human rights and investigate abuses face unsubstantiated criminal charges, in an apparent effort to interfere with their vital human rights work;
• calling for the charges against Luz Margoth Tuy Jiatz to be either substantiated or dropped;
• urging the authorities to ensure the security of all those working to promote human rights, including staff at the Procuradoria Auxiliar de Derechos Humanos (PDH), Human Rights Procurator's Auxiliary Office in Solola.

APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior:
Eduardo Arevalo Lacs
Ministro de Gobernacion
Ministerio de Gobernacion
6a Avenida 4-64, Zona 4
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Telegram: Ministro de Gobernacion, Ciudad de Guatemala,
Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 362 0239 / 362 0237
Salutation: Senor Ministro / Dear Minister

Minister of Foreign Relations:
Lic. Gabriel Orellana Rojas
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
Avenida Reforma 4-47, Zona 10
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Telegram: Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Ciudad de Guatemala,
Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 3317938
Salutation: Senor Ministro / Dear Minister

Director General of the National Civil Police:
Comisario Luis Arturo Paniagua Galicia
Director General de la Policia Nacional Civil
6a Avenida 13-71, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Telegram: Director General de la Policia, Ciudad de Guatemala,
Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 251 9382
Salutation: Senor Director / Dear Director

COPIES TO:
Procurador Auxiliar de Derechos Humanos de Solola
Procuraduria Auxiliar de Derechos Humanos de Solola
5a Avenida 8-20, Zona 1
Solola, Solola, GUATEMALA
Fax: 011 502 762 3642
Salutation: Estimado Procurador / Dear Procurator

Ambassador Ariel Rivera Irias
Embassy of Guatemala
2220 R St. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 745 1908

Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office
between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if
sending appeals after September 18, 2002.

Go to http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
to read this month's newsletter.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax:     303 258 7881

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