By: Rolando Alvarado
Reference: Facebook
The Guatemalan authorities are illegally detaining Igor Bitkov, his wife Irina and daughter Anastasia,
They were arrested on 15 January 2015 on charges of using forged passports and identity documents and currently face criminal trial.
Their detention is illegal because the United Nations’ Palermo Convention that has been signed by Guatemala in 2003 clearly states that migrants who possess or procure false travel documents and IDs as a result of migration are not liable to criminal prosecution, Eeva Heikkila, a London-based lawyer with knowledge of the case, said today.
The Bitkov family acquired Guatemalan passports in 2009 issued legally, as the passports and identity papers were given to them in offices of the Government, as they would be to any other person. They received Personal Identity Documents in the offices of the RENAP (Registro Nacional de las Personas), and passports at the Department of Migration (Dirección General de Migración). They had responded to an advertisement by a law firm, Cutino International, offering to provide citizenship by legal means.
Criminal First Instance Judge Carol Patricia Flores Polanco hearing the case ordered that the three Bitkov family members must remain in detention despite the fact that their alleged crimes do not classify as a felony according to the Palermo Convention, and in any case are not of social or highly dangerous impact, and according to Guatemalan law the alleged crimes are suitable to a alternative measure and this has been denied without justification.
The Bitkov’s family legal team has filed an appeal to the judicial panel of the Court of Appeals requesting the repeal of the decision ordering the imprisonment and asking for an alternative measure.
Igor and Irina Bitkov believe that the actions of the Guatemalan authorities are the result of a politically motivated campaign against them directed by individuals in Russia, after they were forced to surrender their business interests in Russia in 2008 and exit the country.
Contact: Rolando Alvarado ([email protected])