VZCZCXRO8436
PP RUEHLA
DE RUEHGT #0085 0291519
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291519Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6866
INFO RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 0004

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000085 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KJUS KDEM PHUM PGOV GT
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST CLEARED OF ACCUSATION OF 
ATTEMPTED MURDER 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  At a January 23 pre-trial hearing, a 
Guatemalan court found insufficient evidence to charge human 
rights activist Jorge Luis Lopez Sologaistoa of attempted 
murder for the July 2008 armed assault of a sex worker. 
Peace Brigades International had requested Embassy 
intervention on the case after a warrant for Lopez's arrest 
had been issued.  Local and international human rights groups 
had highlighted the case as an alleged example of police 
intimidation of human rights activists.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On January 23, the Ninth Criminal Court ruled that 
there was insufficient evidence to charge human rights 
activist Jorge Luis Lopez Sologaistoa of attempted murder in 
connection with a July 2008 armed assault on sex worker Axel 
Leonel Donis Gonzalez (alias Laila).  The judge, however, 
ordered house arrest pending further investigation of 
allegations of obstruction of justice. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Lopez, Executive Director of the Organization to 
Support an Integrated Sexuality to Confront AIDS (OASIS), an 
NGO that works to prevent HIV/AIDS and to protect the rights 
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, had 
maintained his innocence since November 4 when warrants for 
his arrest and that of five other suspects were issued.  He 
claimed that the police unjustly accused him of attempted 
murder because of his work on human rights. 
 
¶4. (SBU) On January 15, Lopez told poloff that after he had 
been informed by certain individuals of the planned assault, 
he alerted the police and located Laila, who lives on the 
street.  He said that after warning Laila he had left before 
she was attacked.  Lopez believed that the attack was in 
retaliation for Laila's past aggression against other sex 
workers, and that she named him among six individuals 
responsible for the attack because of his position with OASIS 
and his organization's support to sex workers.  After the 
arrest warrant was issued, Lopez locked himself in his office 
for 50 days to evade arrest, while reaching out to local and 
international human rights organizations and the diplomatic 
community to intervene on his behalf. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Lopez told poloff on January 26 that he appeared 
voluntarily at his hearing and that the judge stated that it 
was clear that he had not been involved in the attempted 
murder.  The judge ruled, however, that there may be grounds 
for bringing a charge of obstruction of justice, which under 
Article 474 of the Penal Code carries a prison sentence. 
Lopez confirmed that he is now under house arrest and can 
move freely within the department of Guatemala without 
authorization, but must report to the court once every 30 
days and obtain authorization to travel outside the 
department. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Lopez noted that several human rights organizations 
and members of the international community, including the 
Human Rights Ombudsman's Office, Peace Brigades 
International, the President's Commission on Human Rights, 
and foreign embassies, accompanied him to the hearing and 
others were closely following the case. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  The highly visible public campaign waged 
by local human rights groups and the international community 
may have influenced the outcome of Lopez's pre-trial hearing. 
 While Lopez is no longer under investigation for attempted 
murder, he remains under investigation on allegations of 
obstruction of justice, an accusation he claims was a 
concession to the Public Ministry (Attorney General's Office) 
by a judge who did not want to completely overrule the 
Ministry.  It is still not clear, however, that Lopez was 
targeted because of his human rights work. 
Qtargeted because of his human rights work. 
McFarland