6
(Operative Paragraph 2 of the Order of January 26, 2009; supra Having Seen 2), the State
referred to a meeting held on December 16, 2008 between State representatives and members
of the FAFG which mainly dealt with the matter of “coordinating actions for training security
forces.” In its March 26, 2010 brief, the State also declared that it was “meeting with the
beneficiaries in order to coordinate with them regarding the protective measures that will be
provided to them [during the transfers to the exhumation site and during these exhumations]
and to obtain a schedule for the transfers and exhumations that they are currently pending.”
18.
The representatives indicated that “a dialogue was held” with State representatives in
which they made proposals, requests, and certain coordination actions, but that this dialogue
has been characterized by incomplete information for which “the results have been poor and
uncertainty reigns” regarding the threats. In this regard, they highlighted that the last working
meeting took place in November 2009. The representatives also noted that they “have met
with two agents on different dates who informed them that they are undertaking [a] ‘risk
assessment study,’” but that neither the FAFG nor the representatives have been informed or
provided with the results of this study.
19.
The Commission moved the Court to require that the State adopt all mechanisms
necessary to guarantee the participation of the beneficiaries and the representatives in the
structuring and execution of these provisional measures.
*
*
*
20.
In its April 22, 2010 brief, the Inter-American Commission sent the Court a recent public
communication issued by the FAFG which gives detailed information on new threats that
occurred on April 13, 2010. According to this communication, on that morning a driver parked
his truck next to Mr. Omar Bertoni Girón, Chief of the FAFG Forensic Laboratory, while Mr. Girón
was at a gas station buying coffee. A person proceeded to break into his car, shattering the
glass and stealing a briefcase containing his laptop computer. The incident was allegedly
captured by the filling station’s security cameras. The communication also indicated that on the
evening of that same day Mr. Fredy Peccerelli received a threatening letter which made
reference to what had happened to Mr. Girón. The text of these threats was published in the
communication. In this regard, in the representatives’ brief of May 20, 2010, they commented
that they are aware of no advances in the investigation into the theft of Mr. Girón’s computer
“despite the existence of surveillance footage at the moment of the robbery” and moved the
Court to require that the State undertake this investigation. In addition, representatives
highlighted that the security measures provided “do not comply with either Mr. Fredy
Peccerelli’s or Mr. Omar Girón’s needs at the present time” and regarded it as important “to
strike a balance between the personnel assigned to the protection of [FAFG] members and their
families, and the institution’s two headquarters.”
21.
The Commission expressed “alarm” over the theft of Mr. Omar Bertoni Girón’s computer
and the threat against the FAFG Executive Director, emphasizing that its concern “does not only
refer to the incident against Mr. Girón, and the information obtained from his computer, but
rather extends the threat to the Executive Director, his entire family, and the FAFG members.”
In the Commission’s opinion, “the threat shows that the actions required of the Guatemalan
State have not been effectively implemented.”
*
*
*