AAAS Science and Human Rights Program

AAAS Action Alerts

FACTS OF THE CASE:

UA 238/05 (14 September 2005) and follow-ups (13 January 2006 and 16 March 2006)

Fear for safety/death threats: GUATEMALA

• The Fredy Peccerelli (m), head of the Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala (FAFG), Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation
  
  
• Omar Bertoni Giron (m), FAFG Laboratory Coordinator and husband of Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso * Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso (f), sister of Fredy Peccerelli
  
  
• Gianni Peccerelli (m), brother of Fredy Peccerelli
  
  
• Other members of the FAFG

Fredy Peccerelli, head of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (Fundación de Antropología Forense Guatemala; FAFG), his brother Gianni Peccerelli, his sister Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso and his brother-in-law Omar Bertoni Giron continue to be in grave danger following a new death threat made against them.

On 2 February, Omar Bertoni Giron received an SMS text message on his mobile phone which read, "I > They are going to take your security away and Omar, Ginni, Bianca y Fredy will die sons of bitches" (Yo > Les van a quitar la seguridad y mueren Omar, Ginni, Bianca y Fredy hijos de puta).

The threats took place the same day that the newspaper Siglo XXI published an article reporting a statement by the Deputy Minister of the Interior announcing a general review of police personnel assigned to personal protection duties.

In 2002, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had requested that the four individuals named above, along with other members of the FAFG receive precautionary protection measures. In 2006, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IA Court HR) renewed the request. However, concerns persist regarding the effectiveness of the protection provided. In January 2006, FAFG were also threatened shortly after protection measures had been decreased (See UA 238/05, 13 January 2006 and follow-ups).

On 2 February 2008, another article in Siglo XXI reported that testimony was due to be given in Spain this month by witnesses to the Guatemalan genocide during the 1980s, before a Spanish judge. Fredy Peccerelli and other members of the FAFG have been subjected to numerous death threats as a result of their work to exhume mass graves of those killed by the Guatemalan military and their civilian allies during the internal armed conflict (1960-1996).

RECOMMENDED ACTION

Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

• American expressing grave concern for the safety of Fredy Peccerelli, Omar Bertoni Giron, Bianka Peccerelli and Gianni Peccerelli following a death threat against them received on 2 February 2008;
  
  
• urging the authorities to take immediate steps to provide effective protection measures for the four of them in accordance with the requests made by the IACHR and the IA Court HR in 2002 and 2006 respectively;
  
  
• calling for an immediate and thorough investigation into the threats, identifying those responsible and bringing them to justice;
  
  
• reminding the authorities of the right of human rights defenders to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

COPIES TO

Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (FAFG)
Avenida Simon Canas 10-64, Zona 2, Ciudad de Guatemala,
Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 2254 0882
011 502 2288 7297
011 502 2288 7302
(if a voice responds, say "por favor, tono de fax"; if an answering machine responds, press "send" after the tone)

Ambassador Jose Guillermo Castillo
Embassy of Guatemala
2220 R St. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 745 1908
Email: info@guatemala-embassy.org

This Action Alert was posted by the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program on behalf of Amnesty International.

(page updated 02/11/2008)