From this case it became known that The old Guatemala merged the Municipal Police with the Transit Police and created the Urban Municipal Police (PMU). And that three agents of this new security beat Luis Armando Solórzano Subuyuj to death on February 28, 2021.
The one-person judge, Aura Engracia Pérez, of the Sacatepéquez Court of Criminal Sentence, Drug Activity and Crimes against the Environment, found Juan Carlos Tomas López, Ángel Gustavo Jiménez Pineda and Guillermo Salomón Noj Lara guilty of the crime of manslaughter.
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They accepted the charges that the Public Prosecutor charged them, for which they must pay three commutable years in jail at a rate of Q5 per day, and Q30 thousand each as dignified reparation for the family. In addition, they must attend human relations training for six months.
Meanwhile, the commune of Antigua, as the third civil defendant, was sentenced to pay Q180 thousand, and to train its PMU in human relations and its functions to distinguish them from the National Civil Police (PNC).
You must also expose the sentence in six strategic places in the municipality, for six months, so that residents and visitors find out what happened to avoid a repetition of the events. And provide psychological support to the victim’s sister and her relatives to overcome her sorrow with dignity.
Hugo Castillo, municipal spokesman, explains that the commune will not rule on the matter until the sentence is final, since there is the possibility of an appeal.
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🔔 CONDEMN | This is the sentence for municipal agents for the death of a citizen in Antigua
Luis Armando Solórzano Subuyuj died as a result of excessive force after being subdued by municipal agents. pic.twitter.com/w6Cps01qYh
— I’m 502 (@I’m_502) March 17, 2023
The prosecution in La Antigua Guatemala
According to investigations by the MP, the convicts participated in a violent act on February 28, 2021 on Las Ánimas street and third North avenue in the colonial city. They forcibly subdued the victim who was walking naked and unarmed down that street.
At 4:45 p.m., the agents abused their position and physical force against Solórzao. The aggression was recorded on the video surveillance cameras of the municipality and in the videos published on social networks that were presented as evidence.
The report from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif) indicated that the victim died of pulmonary hemorrhage due to frontal, bilateral fractures and closed chest trauma.
Judge Sherly Figueroa, of this same court, accepted the change from the crime of murder to manslaughter. In her argument, she said that “It is not an intentional crime, although there is a criminal act”, because the accused did not follow the protocols established in accordance with the Manual of the Municipal Traffic Police.
The complainants
Rosa María Solorzano Subuyuj, sister of the deceased, and Estuardo Antonio Calderón Tobar, representing Civil Society, participated in the judicial process as adhesive plaintiffs. Both stated that they agreed with the sentence, despite the change in crime that favored those convicted.
Denis Weikard, a member of the Permanent Forum of Civil Society of Sacatepéquez, assures that the PMU is illegal because only the Municipal Traffic Police and the Municipal Police can exist. He remembers that since its creation in 2020 he has committed outrages against the neighbors.
“I have received physical and verbal attacks from that police, so there is no reason to be. She is a reflection of the arrogance of Mayor Víctor Hugo del Pozo”, said. He hopes that this sentence will serve so that the events are not repeated. [Por Julio Sicán. Vía Ojoconmipisto]
