Documento - Guatemala: Further information on Fear for safety/Death threats: New name: Gianni Peccerelli

PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 34/001/2006

13 January 2006

Further Information on UA 238/05 (AMR 34/038/2005, 14 September 2005) Fear for safety/death threats

GUATEMALA Fredy Peccerelli, head of the Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (FAFG), Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation.

Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso (f), sister of Fredy Peccerelli

Omar Girón de León (m), FAFG Laboratory Coordinator and husband of Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso

Jeannette Peccerelli (f), former wife of Fredy Peccerelli

Other members of the FAFG

New name: Gianni Peccerelli, brother of Fredy Peccerelli

Fredy Peccerelli, head of the Guatemala City-based Fundación de Antropología Forense Guatemala (FAFG), the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation, his brother Gianni Peccerelli, his sister Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso and brother in law Omar Girón de León have all received death threats in recent days. They may be in grave danger.

On 9 January, Fredy Peccerelli received an SMS text message on his mobile phone which read, “hijo de su madre: vamos a quebrarle el cullo a tu hermano yani lo tenemos bien controlado en un Volvo sin vidrio trasero paren las exhumaciones hij." ("Son of a bitch: we are going to kill your brother Yani. We have him properly under control in [his] Volvo without its back window. Stop the exhumations, sons..."). The message apparently refers to Fredy’s brother, Gianni Peccerelli, who has recently acquired a Volvo with a missing back windscreen which is yet to be repaired.

Some time between 9.30am and 2pm the following day, an anonymous letter was deposited in the mail box at the home of Fredy Peccerelli's sister, Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso and her husband Omar Girón de León, who is the Laboratory Coordinator for the FAFG. The letter read, “Hijos de puta, no se han ahuevado los vamos a matar. Fredi no entiende a tu hermana la vamos a secuestrar y violar una y otra vez y si no paran los vamos a mandar pedazo por pedazo. Omar sera viudo pero solo por minutos luego te meteremos una bala en la cabeza. Uno por uno los mataramos. Qué mueren los antropologos [sic]. Fredi Revolucionario Omar preparate." ("Sons of a bitch, you haven't given up yet. We are going to kill you. Fredi don´t you understand. We are going to kidnap your sister and rape her again and again, and if (you) don’t stop we will send (her) to you piece by piece. Omar will be a widower, but only for a few minutes, then we are going to put a bullet in your head. One by one we will kill you. Death to the anthropologists. Fredy Revolutionary. Omar get ready.”).

Fredy Peccerelli and other members of the FAFG have been subjected to numerous death threats as a result of their work to exhume mass graves of those killed by the Guatemalan military and their civilian adjuncts in the early 1980s. In 2002 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ordered that Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso, Omar Girón de León, Fredy Peccerelli and other members of the FAFG receive precautionary protection measures. However, concerns remain that the level of protection they are receiving is inadequate. Following the death threat received by Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso and Omar Girón de León in September 2005 (see original UA), two police officers were stationed outside their house and Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso was given 24-hour police protection. However, from late December 2005 onwards, the police officers stationed outside the house failed to report for duty on some days. On 7 January, three days before the written death threat was received, they stopped coming altogether. Since these most recent threats, the homes of Gianni Peccerelli and Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso are being guarded by police. However, as they have been threatened directly, the FAFG is calling for the authorities to provide them with personal protection 24 hours a day, and to guarantee that this level of protection will be maintained.

Jeannette Peccerelli, Fredy Peccerelli’s former wife, is receiving 24-hour police protection after being threatened at gunpoint in August 2005, apparently as a result of her connection with Fredy Peccerelli. On 5 January 2006, she was shopping with her two children, accompanied by the police officer protecting her, when an unidentified man began following them. In fear for their safety, they were forced to abandon their shopping trip.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or you own language:

- expressing grave concern for the safety of Bianka Peccerelli, Gianni Peccerelli, Fredy Peccerelli, Omar Girón de León and Jeannette Peccerelli;

- urging the authorities to take immediate measures to offer all the protection needed to the individuals named above and the offices of FAFG, in accordance with the 2002 order of the IACHR;

- calling for an immediate and thorough investigation into the threats, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice;

- calling for the authorities to account for their failure to conduct adequate investigations into previous threats against members of the FAFG;

- reminding the authorities of the right of human rights defenders to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

APPEALS TO:

Vice-Minister of the Interior

Vice-Ministro de Gobernación

Julio César Godoy Anleu

6a.Avenida 4-64, zona 4, nivel 2.Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala

Fax: + 502 2361 5914

Salutation: Señor Ministro/ Dear Minister

Head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office on Human Rights

Jefa de la Fiscalia de Sección de Derechos Humanos

Rosa Maria Salazar Marroquin

7a. Avenida 11-20, Zona 1, Segundo nivel

Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala