Guatemala issues warrants for former interior minister, police chief in inmate slayings

[Judi Lynn]

Guatemala issues warrants for former interior minister, police chief in inmate slayings
JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
Associated Press Writer
5:54 p.m. EDT, August 11, 2010

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemalan court has issued arrest warrants for a former interior minister and a top police official for allegedly participating in the killing of inmates during a prison escape and uprising, a court employee said Wednesday.

Nineteen people are named in the warrants, including former Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann and former National Police Director Erwin Sperissen, according to the court employee, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

There is also a warrant for the former prison director, Alejandro Giammattei, who sought refuge in the Honduran Embassy on Friday claiming he was the victim of a political persecution.

Vielmann and Sperissen are believed to have left Guatemala.

All of the officials are from the 2004-2008 administration of then President Oscar Berger.

President Alvaro Colom called the warrants "a challenge to break impunity."

The ex-officials are reportedly implicated in ordering the killing of seven inmates when police regained control of the country's Pavon prison following an uprising there in 2007, and the execution of three inmates who escaped from the "El Infiernito" prison in 2005.

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Carlos Vielmann



Erwin Sperisen



former President Oscar Berger