Guatemalan Court Blocks Probe Into UN-backed Commission

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Guatemala’s Constitutional Court on Monday ordered an injunction to stop an allegedly politically-motivated investigation into the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Al Jazeera reported.

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October 10th, 2019
Justice System

Guatemalan politicians passed a decree in September, which established a special commission of five legislators known for their anti-CICIG stances to probe the CICIG’s past work. The injunction stops their work a week after they began their investigation. 

All the uproar with the inquiry into the CICIG, and the subsequent injunction halting it, comes despite the fact that the CICIG’s work in Guatemala was officially shut down on September 3 after it investigated for two years President Jimmy Morales, his party, relatives, and others connected to him.

Morales announced in August 2018 that he would allow the CICIG’s mandate to expire, signaling an end to the agreement between the United Nations and Guatemala. US Representative Norma Torres said that “CICIG’s abrupt departure would be a major setback for Guatemala’s fight against corruption.”

President Morales in 2018 banned the head of the commission from the country, going against a ruling by Guatemala’s highest court. Later, Morales removed 25 police personnel assigned to guard the CICIG, halving its security force. Whether the Constitutional Court’s order to end the special commission’s probe into the CICIG’s past work will be followed is still to be seen. 

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