Extrajudicial executions: Geneva’s justice must order effective investigation
Geneva, 18 April 2011
More than three years after a criminal complaint was lodged against a former chief of the Guatemalan National Police, a Swiss-Guatemalan double citizen living in Geneva, there is still no progress in the investigations.
In January 2008, the Geneva’s union action community (CGAS), ACAT-Switzerland (Action by Christians Against Torture), and the union Uniterre filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Erwin Sperisen, chief of the National Civil Police of Guatemala (PNC) from 2004 to 2007, in Geneva. The aforementioned organisations urged the authorities to investigate into Mr. Sperisen’s role in the evacuation of the Nueva Linda Finca carried out by the PNC, and during which nine peasants and three policemen were killed.
Very serious crimes
Thereafter, TRIAL (Swiss association against impunity), and subsequently OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture), joined the criminal complaint. Important complementary elements were added to the proceeding, documenting notably the use of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, and sexual violence by the PNC during the mandate of Mr. Sperisen.
Only after over two years Geneva’s public prosecutor did hand the file over to the investigative judge in order to carry out an in-depth investigation.
International arrest warrant
At the same time, the Guatemalan authorities on their turn issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Sperisen and 17 other persons in August 2010, for their alleged participation in extrajudicial executions in two particular events, one of which has already been the object of the criminal complaint in Geneva. Given his citizenship, Mr. Sperisen can not be extradited to Guatemala, and therefore the canton of Geneva is competent to set up a preliminary inquiry.
In November 2010, the authorities of Geneva announced that a rogatory letter was being addressed to Guatemala.
Evidence in Guatemala
The organisations initiators of the complaint do not have the possibility to be joint plaintiff, and therefore have not access to the file. They can only note that, despite the seriousness of the crimes, almost 40 months have passed without any major advances in the investigation. The Guatemalan authorities, who declared their willingness to cooperate fully with the Geneva’s authorities, have not been called on yet. The file in Guatemala remains forgotten.
If the crimes of which Mr. Sperisen is suspected rest on sufficient evidence, he must be handed over to the justice and a trial should be held in Geneva. Impunity is a scourge that wears down and destroys the Guatemalan society. Geneva should not be part of this.
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