We wrote to officials in Guatemala regarding the criminalization of indigenous journalist Anastasia Mejía Tiriquiz in Quiché Department. (This is a follow-up to a letter we sent September 26, 2020). On September 22, agents from the Specialized Criminal Investigation Division (DEIC) of the National Civil Police (PNC) raided her home, from which she operates the radio station Xol Abaj. They arrested her on charges of “sedition,” “attack with specific aggravations,” “aggravated arson,” and “aggravated robbery.” Although Guatemalan law establishes that an initial hearing must take place within 24 hours after an individual is arrested, that did not happen. Anastasia Mejía Tiriquiz waited in arbitrary detention for 36 days at the Quetzaltenango Preventive Center for Women. On October 28, she was formally charged by the judge of the Criminal Court of First Instance of Santa Cruz del Quiché. A cash bail was set, and she was permitted to leave imprisonment and stay in her home “under house arrest .” We are urging that authorities in Guatemala drop all charges against Anastasia Mejía Tiriquiz.
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