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GUATEMALA''S JUSTICE SYSTEM ON TRIAL IN MACK CASE.

Article Excerpt
A suit against the state of Guatemala in the murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack (see NotiCen, 2002-10-10) opened on Feb. 18 at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in Costa Rica. The suit, brought by Helen Mack, sister of the victim and head of the human rights organization Fundacion Myrna Mack (FMM), charged the state with denial of justice in connection with the 1990 murder.

The prosecution planned to call nine witnesses and six experts, including Bishop Juan Cabrera, who knew the anthropologist when she was doing research on indigenous people displaced by the civil war in the department of El Quiche. It was for this research, and its publication, that the anthropologist was killed, according to facts established in the 1993 trial that found army Sgt. Noel Beteta guilty of the murder (see Update, 1993-02-19).

Myrna's daughter Lucrecia Hernandez Mack also testified to the "suffering and pain inflicted by the murder of her mother, as well as the multiplicity of formalities she was subjected to in the search for justice," said a press release.

Helen Mack said the trial against the state is for failure to guarantee the life of her sister, for denial of justice, and for delaying tactics in bringing those responsible to justice.

The suit seeks not only condemnation of the state, but also compensation for psychological and moral damage, as well as medical and legal expenses the family has sustained over a period of more than 12 years. Myrna Mack was killed...

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