On Monday 18th July the full sentence of the judicial process for the Curuguaty Massacrre against 11 campesino men and women where they were declared guilty of all charges was made public, with sentences ranging from 4 years to 35 years in prison. The same was marred by irregularities without respecting the procedural safeguards for the accused.
After the massacre on 15th July 2012 in which 11 peasants and 6 policemen where killed which triggered the President Fernando Lugo coup, 9 Farmers and 3 peasant were prosecuted for invasion of private property, criminal association and homicide in land taken over illegally in times of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship, which have been declared by the Paraguayan State as their own but that the Judiciary has not recognized as such going forward with the process, also showing the partiality of the Judiciary and the Office of the Prosecutor, as well as the lack of transparency in the process.
In addition to this, there have been numerous violations of the right to defense and the lack of investigation into the death of the 11 peasants that were killed in Curuguaty, including allegations of extrajudicial executions by the police.
For these reasons, we demand full respect for Human Rights and the monitoring of its compliance on the part of state institutions. As well, we repudiate the sentence issued by the Judiciary despite the flaws in the legal process and demand that the trial be declared null for that reason.
Invalidity now!
Freedom to Curuguaty prisoners!