Report No. 98 (2025) IACHR. Petition No. 13.600 (Guatemala)

• Court: Inter-American Comission of Human Rights
• Year: 2025
• Case Type: Friendly Settlements
• Respondent State: Guatemala

REPORT No. 98/25

CASE 13.600

REPORT ON FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT

B.A.B.M., O.G.A.J. AND R.C.M.P.

GUATEMALA

OEA/Ser.L/V/II

Doc. 103

19 J. 2025

Original: Spanish

Adopted electronically by the Commission on J. 19, 2025.

Cite as: IACHR, Report No. 98/25, C. 13.600. Friendly Settlement. B.A.B.M., O.G.A.J., and R.C.M.P. Guatemala. J. 19, 2025.

www.iachr.org

REPORT No. 98/25

CASE 13.600

FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT

B.A.B.M., O.G.A.J. AND R.C.M.P.1

GUATEMALA2

JUNE 19, 2025

1. SUMMARY AND RELEVANT PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT PROCESS

1. On September 24, 2012, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Inter-American Commission", "the Commission", or "the IACHR") received a petition filed by B.A.B.M. (hereinafter "the petitioner", "the petitioning party", or "the alleged victim"), alleging the international responsibility of the Republic of Guatemala (hereinafter "S." or "G. S." or "Guatemala"), for violation of the human rights set forth in Articles 1.1 (obligation to respect rights), 5 (humane treatment), 7 (personal liberty), 8 (judicial guarantees), 10 (compensation), 11 (protection of honor and dignity), 25 (judicial protection), and 27 (suspension of guarantees) of the American Convention on Human Rights, (hereinafter "Convention" or "American Convention") and Articles 1 (obligation to prevent and punish torture), 6 (obligation to adopt effective measures of prevention and punishment), and 8 (obligation to guarantee denunciation) of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, for the arbitrary detention and torture of Mr. B.A.B.M. by members of the Criminal Investigation Service of the National Police on J. 20, 2001, as well as for the lack of investigation and punishment of those responsible, the lack of reparation for the damages suffered, and the consequent moral damages caused to his family members.

2. On J. 13, 2018, the Commission notified the parties of the decision to defer the consideration of the admissibility of the case until its merits stage, in accordance with Article 36 (3) of its Rules of Procedure and Resolution 1/16 on measures to reduce the procedural backlog.

3. On July 8, 2021, the petitioning party expressed interest in initiating a friendly settlement process. On September 17, 2021, the S. indicated its willingness to move forward with the negotiation.

4. On February 3, 2022, the Commission notified the parties of the initiation of the friendly settlement process, which led to the signing of a friendly settlement agreement (hereinafter "FSA" or "agreement") on J. 22, 2025, in Guatemala City. Afterwards, on J. 29 and February 10, 2025, respectively, the S. and the petitioning party requested the approval of said agreement.

5. This friendly settlement report, in accordance with Article 49 of the Convention and Article 40(5) of the Commission's Rules of Procedure, provides an overview of the facts alleged by the petitioning party and includes the friendly settlement agreement signed on February 22, 2025, by the petitioning party and the G. S.. A., the Commission hereby approves the agreement signed by the parties and decides to publish this report in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American S.s.

2. THE FACTS ALLEGED

6. The petitioning party reported the alleged arbitrary detention of Mr. B.A.B.M. on J. 20, 2001, by security personnel of the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) of the National Civil Police of Guatemala, while he was driving his vehicle on the second street and first avenue of Zone one of the City of Guatemala. This occurred in the context of a state of emergency in effect as a result of a D. issued on J. 18, 2001.

7. According to the petition, three SIC agents crossed the official police vehicle and got into the alleged victim's vehicle, displacing him from the steering wheel and pointing a gun at him, without identifying themselves or indicating the reason for the arrest. S., Mr. B.A.B.M. was allegedly taken to a place near the United Nations Park in Guatemala City, where he was tortured for more than four hours, and then fraudulently charged with drug trafficking. The charge alleged that B.A.B.M. had been caught with a nylon bag containing 22 bags of marijuana in his vehicle, to justify his imprisonment. D. this detention, the alleged victim was reportedly held incommunicado and without access to a legal representative.

8. On J. 21, 2001, the wife of B.A.B.M., Mrs. O.G.A.J., filed a writ of habeas corpus before the Second Criminal Peace Court of Tumo (Folder 156-2001). S., the O. of the Human Rights Prosecutor filed a writ of habeas corpus in favor of Mr. B.A.B.M. according to the ORD. GUA 179- 2001/DI file of said institution.

9. Following the habeas corpus applications, the Seventh Justice of the Peace went to the Detention Center for Men in Zone 18, on J. 21, 2001, where he personally observed the physical condition of Mr. B.A.B.M., and noted on record "the blood stains on his neck and on the pants clearly torn at the zipper", and the blows he suffered to the abdomen, thorax, and back, and immediately ordered a forensic medical examination be performed.

10. The forensic medical report was conducted by Dr. Griselda Lucrecia Gálvez Orozco, on the same day, who evaluated the injuries suffered by the alleged victim, all compatible with the torture described by him. In her report, the doctor describes among other aspects: "Scorch marks with blood crust distributed as follows: two linear scabs on the posterior external face of the right wrist of two and four centimeters; twenty in the lumbar and lower dorsal region of three to five centimeters. Reddish-violet ecchymosis: in the posterior and external region of the right wrist."

11. T., on J. 25, 2001, the First Court of Criminal Judgment, Drug Trafficking, and Crimes against the Environment, acting as a Constitutional Appeal Court (tribunal de amparo), issued an order ruling the habeas corpus.

12. The petitioning party alleged that the false accusation made by the police officers was dismissed for lack of merit. H., the alleged victim had to wait six days to be heard by a competent judge, regarding the false accusation of drug trafficking and was not informed of the reason for his arrest during the first days, but only after the granting of habeas corpus.

13. Finally, it was indicated in the petition that these facts were not properly investigated by the authorities nor were those responsible punished, and that the alleged victim was not compensated. In addition, it was explained that B.A.B.M. still suffers from the aftereffects of the torture suffered and that the drug trafficking charge has affected his employment status. B. of the latter, he alleged a violation of his right to work and to decent living conditions, since the police record constitutes an unjustified impediment to obtaining employment and he has had to accept lower paying jobs for security reasons. In addition, the wife of the alleged victim, O.G.A.J., as a result of the stress experienced during the days that her husband disappeared and then illegally detained, suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has developed chronic hypertension. S., the mother of Mr. B.A.B.M., Mrs. R.C.M.P. suffers from episodes of anguish, traumatic reminiscences of the events, and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

3. FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT

14. On J. 22, 2025, in Guatemala City, the parties signed a friendly settlement agreement, which reads as follows:

FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

CASO 13.600

B.A.B.M. O.G.A.J. AND R.C.M.P. v. GUATEMALA3

In the city of Guatemala, on the twenty-second day of J. of the year two thousand and twenty-five, we declare:

1. ONTHE PARTICIPATION AND WILLINGNESS OF THE PARTIES

1. The S. of Guatemala, represented by Carlos Federico Amézquita Galindo, aged fifty-seven, single, G., sociologist, domiciled in the department of Guatemala, who identifies himself with the Personal Identification Document with Unique Identification Code [...], issued by the National Registry of Personnel of the Republic of Guatemala, acts in his capacity as EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION FOR PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS (COPADEH), which he accredits with the following documentation: a) Copy of the Governmental Agreement number one hundred thirty-eight (138) dated September eighteenth, of the year two thousand twenty-four, signed by the President of the Republic...