Guatemalan prosecutors request that President-elect Bernardo Arevalo be stripped of immunity

Source: Associated Press

Guatemalan prosecutors request that President-elect Bernardo Arévalo be stripped of immunity

BY SONIA PÉREZ D.
Updated 6:26 PM EST, November 17, 2023

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Attorney General’s office formally requested Friday that President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and others be stripped of their immunity so it can investigate them for allegedly encouraging the student occupation of the country’s only public university.

Cultural Heritage prosecutor Ángel Saúl Sánchez had announced on Thursday that he planned to make the request while federal agents executed search warrants and sought to arrest dozens of members of Arévalo’s Seed Movement party.

That announcement drew waves of criticism from within and outside Guatemala.

Sánchez formally requested that immunity be lifted for Arévalo, Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, three lawmakers and a deputy-elect from the Seed Movement. Stripping them of immunity allows prosecutors to pursue a formal investigation.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/guatemala-election-bernardo-arevalo-c6fdc1eef1bd738723909ede384ecd30