By Sandra Cuffe
CHUEHUETENANGO, Guatemala
Congress here on Thursday demanded an extraordinary session to potentially strip President Otto Pérez Molina of immunity from prosecution due to his alleged participation in corruption scandals.
The session to be held Friday will form a commission of inquiry into the matter, following a court ruling giving the green light to the proceedings. It is the first time in Guatemalan history that the court has approved proceedings to strip a serving president of his immunity.
The president and other official posts confer immunity from prosecution. The procedure to strip them of their immunity involves the judicial and legislative branches of government.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Justice accepted opposition lawmaker Amilcar Pop’s motion to remove Pérez Molina’s immunity. Pop alleges the president was involved in and covered up high-level government corruption.
“With objectivity, impartiality and independence, the court carefully analyzed the facts described in the request,” Supreme Court of Justice President Josué Felipe Baquiax said at a press conference Wednesday.
Congress will sit Friday to form a commission of inquiry of five randomly chosen congressional representatives.
The commission will have 60 days to present its findings to Congress. A recommendation to strip the president of his immunity from prosecution needs a two-thirds majority vote in order to proceed and be sent back to the court.
“It gives us a breath of hope to believe in the system again,” Pop said of the ruling, in an interview with Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico. “Above all, it confirms that things are changing because never before has a president been subject to scrutiny by the Congress.”
The proceedings to strip Pérez Molina of his immunity from prosecution is one more development in the corruption scandals that have rocked the country during the past two months.
National prosecutors and the UN International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala cracked down on criminal networks within the National Tax Office and the Guatemalan Social Security Institute in April and May, respectively. High-level government officials, lawyers and others were arrested and most remain in detention awaiting trial.
Vice president Roxana Baldetti resigned May 8 following allegations of her involvement in the National Tax Office scandal, in which officials participated in siphoning an estimated $120 million in customs revenue. Baldetti also faced proceedings to strip her of her immunity before she stepped down.
Several Cabinet ministers and other high-level government officials also resigned in May. Pérez Molina has repeated stated that he will not step down while massive weekly protests around the country demand his resignation.
Another Guatemala court ruling Wednesday also made waves in the country. Former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt will face retrial July 23 for genocide and crimes against humanity. He is accused of responsibility for the murders of more than 1,700 Maya Ixil civilians during his military rule in the early 1980s.
Ríos Montt was convicted on the charges in May 2013 and sentenced to 80 years in prison, but the ruling was overturned. A retrial began in January but came to a halt due to legal challenges.
