GUATEMALA

The Sperisen Case in Guatemala

This week, Erwin Sperisen is being retried before the Criminal Chamber of the Geneva Court of Justice. Sentenced last year to life imprisonment for the murder of seven prisoners in Guatemala in 2006, he had appealed his sentence.

The former head of the Guatemalan National Civil Police is tried in Switzerland. However, the Sperisen case has strong implications in Guatemala where it highlights, in many ways, the polarization and tensions of society.

In Guatemala, scandals implicating members of the state apparatus in serious human rights violations have been going on for decades, but few have had to face justice for their actions. The ruling elites enjoy widespread impunity and the country still suffers from corruption and organized crime.

For civil society, this lack of accountability has lasted too long. Tens of thousands of Guatemalans took to the streets this past April 25 to express their outrage against a system that is corrupt to its core. They called for both President Otto Perez Molina and the vice president to be impeached.

It is within this context that the trial of Erwin Sperisen has significant potential: contributing to the decline of the impunity that has been enjoyed for too long by members of the Guatemalan state apparatus. It also reminds us that the laws are the same in Switzerland and in Guatemala, and that the police also need to respect them.

NEPAL

Yuba Katwal obtains justice on behalf of her husband 

Five years ago, Yuba Katwal, with the assistance of TRIAL, lodged a complaint at the United Nations in the name of her husband, brutally abducted by the Nepalese security forces in 2001. After a long struggle, the UN's decision finally offers her a sense of justice and recognition.

Chakra Bahadur Katwal was the Director of an educational establishment. He was also married and the father of four children. On 9 December 2001, he received a letter inviting him to present himself at the Education Office of his district. It was, however, a premeditated ambush.

Upon his arrival, he was forced into an army building. The next morning, witnesses saw him lying unconscious, bruised and covered in blood as soldiers were dragging him towards a police station. Since then, no further news of him has been forthcoming.

During the civil war, the government undertook chilling campaigns of repression against all those who were suspected of abetting the Maoist insurgents. Many families were consequently shattered.

Shattered but not overcome. Yuba Katwal fought for years to shed light on her husband’s enforced disappearance. However, the Nepalese authorities first feigned ignorance before imprisoning and torturing her in an attempt to silence her.

The UN's decision will not return Yuba Katwal’s husband. However, it crowns her fight in the name of justice, forces Nepal to face its international obligations and provides hope for all the victims of impunity in Nepal.