2023-12-12 03:15:17
The first day of the trial for the alleged assassination in 2020 in Guatemala of Frenchman Benoît Maria, director of the NGO Agronomists and Veterinarians Without Borders (AVSF), closed on Monday in Quetzaltenango without getting to the heart of the debates.
Director of AVSF in Guatemala for supporting indigenous Mayan communities in agricultural development, Benoît Maria, who had worked for 20 years in the Central American country, was assassinated on August 10, 2020, at the age of 52, at driving his pickup truck on a path near the indigenous village of San Antonio Ilotenango, in the department of Quiché.
But the trial is being held in Quetzaltenango, the country’s second city, located 200 km west of the Guatemalan capital, and not in Quiché for “security” reasons, Edgar Perez, lawyer for the Human Rights Law Firm, which represents the victim’s family.
“In the department of Quiché, the court did not have security guarantees”, which is why “extended jurisdiction was requested from the court” of Quetzaltenango to which “dangerous cases” or the most high-profile cases fall.
Relatives of Frenchman Benoît Maria, director for Guatemala of the NGO Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (AVSF), attend his funeral in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, August 12, 2020 / Geovanni FLORES / AFP/Archives
During this first day, the only suspect in the dock, the indigenous Diego Tay, member of the municipal council for urban and rural development of the place where the crime was committed, was sentenced to three years and four months prison for illegally carrying a weapon, said Me Perez. “The trial is now continuing under the classification of alleged assassination,” he said.
Mr Tay faced up to 10 years in prison but had pleaded guilty to reduce the sentence for illegal possession of firearms.
Diego Tay faces Benoît Maria’s family: the mother of their children, Anna Isern Sabria, who lives in Guatemala, and his two brothers, Christophe and David Maria, who traveled from France with the general director of AVSF , Frédéric Apollin.
“The family of Benoît Maria hopes that the debates will shed light on the motives which led to this assassination,” Clémence Witt, who is following the case in France with her colleague Alexandre Luc-Walton, told AFP. both lawyers at the Paris bar.
But the dock is missing another person involved in the facts, who could be the alleged shooter against whom “an international arrest warrant” was issued, which could give rise to a second trial, said Mr. Witt.
“International arrest warrant”
The hypothesis of simple theft was ruled out because “the personal effects were found in the car” and during the arrest of Diego Tay in September 2021, the prosecutor’s office mentioned extortion as a possible motive and issued the hypothesis of refusal to pay a “right of passage”.
Relatives of Frenchman Benoît Maria, director for Guatemala of the NGO Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (AVSF), attend his funeral in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, August 12, 2020 / Geovanni FLORES / AFP/Archives
According to Mr. Witt “the information gathered by the investigation revealed that the accused belonged to a family which formed a criminal organization and frequently demanded large sums of money from foreigners traveling in the locality”.
Local human rights organizations, however, recalled in a statement that the crime occurred just a week after the decision of the country’s highest court to order the state to return land to the Ixil indigenous people, supported by Benoît. Maria, in the municipality of Nebaj.
“This point could be debated during the trial,” added Mr. Witt.
The only suspect on the dock, the indigenous Diego Tay, at the court in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, December 11, 2023 / Gustavo RODAS / AFP
Very involved with indigenous populations, the local director of AVSF participated in the creation in 2011 of Ixil University in Quiché, dedicated to the ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples.
French justice is also competent to investigate. Alongside the investigations in Guatemala, a preliminary investigation was carried out in France and in February 2021 an investigating judge was appointed to the Paris Court of Cassation, the lawyers said.
The debates will resume on Tuesday and are scheduled until early January.
#1st #day #trial #alleged #assassination #French #humanitarian