Following the appointment of Gabriel García Luna as the new Attorney General of the Republic and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Guatemala, who will assume office on 18 May 2026, the International Mission of Jurists for Guatemala calls for the institutional transition process to take place in a peaceful, transparent manner, and in full respect of the constitutional order and democratic institutions.
The Mission also urges the new authorities of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to adopt concrete, immediate and verifiable measures aimed at restoring the constitutional mandate of the institution to exercise criminal prosecution with objectivity, impartiality, independence, and strict adherence to human rights and international standards on the administration of justice. This is essential to restore institutional credibility, strengthen the rule of law, and guarantee access to independent justice for all people in Guatemala.
Findings of the International Mission of Jurists for Guatemala
The International Mission of Jurists for Guatemala is a joint initiative of the International Observatory for Lawyers at Risk (OIAD), Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L), the Asociación de Abogados, Abogadas, Jueces y Fiscales de Derechos Humanos de América Latina y el Caribe (AJUFIDH), Asociación de Juezas y Jueces para la Democracia (JJpD) and Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España (APDHE). The Mission carried out an independent, impartial and comprehensive verification exercise aimed at observing, documenting and assessing the situation of the justice system in Guatemala, with particular emphasis on the situation of the legal profession and judicial independence.
As a result of this work, the Mission published the report “Climate of Fear: The Legal Profession and Judicial Independence at Risk”, which documents persistent patterns of harassment, criminalisation, arbitrary detention and forced exile targeting justice operators, lawyers and human rights defenders. The report concludes that these practices are not isolated incidents but structural dynamics aimed at undermining anti-corruption efforts, obstructing accountability for serious human rights violations, and limiting human rights defence.
The Mission’s research documents how the criminal justice system has been instrumentalised through the filing of cases based on spurious complaints, the broad and disproportionate application of certain criminal offences, the misuse of judicial secrecy, and the systematic use of pre-trial detention as a mechanism of pressure. These practices are compounded by smear campaigns, digital harassment and public stigmatisation aimed at eroding the professional and social legitimacy of those performing essential roles in the administration and defence of justice.
