{"id":1970,"date":"2018-06-26T21:14:56","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T03:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/supportthebitkovs.com\/?p=1970"},"modified":"2020-01-31T15:12:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T21:12:32","slug":"buscamos-la-verdad-y-la-justicia-en-guatemala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/supportthebitkovs.com\/en\/2018\/06\/26\/buscamos-la-verdad-y-la-justicia-en-guatemala\/","title":{"rendered":"We seek truth and justice in Guatemala\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPA\u00d1OL DISPONIBLE AQU\u00cd:<\/a><\/p>\n

This letter is addressed to all human beings who care about truth\u00a0and justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are a family of Russian immigrants\u00a0who\u00a0fled\u00a0political persecution\u00a0by\u00a0Vladimir Putin’s regime\u00a0in\u00a0April 2008\u00a0culminating in the theft of our successful business by Russian state banks.\u00a0We had refused to pay bribes to officials.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In good faith, we hired the law\u00a0firm\u00a0Cutino\u00a0International Associates to process\u00a0Guatemalan nationality and travel documents\u00a0for us. These\u00a0were\u00a0officially\u00a0issued in 2009,\u00a0and\u00a0we lived with these documents for six\u00a0years\u00a0without a problem. But\u00a0it later turned out that the law\u00a0firm\u00a0had cheated us. The service\u00a0it provided was fraudulent and the documents were invalid because they had been improperly issued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On\u00a0January 15, 2015, our entire family -mother, father and daughter- were\u00a0arrested\u00a0in Guatemala\u00a0by\u00a0the UN\u00a0anti-corruption\u00a0agency\u00a0CICIG, which was\u00a0cooperating\u00a0with the Kremlin in its persecution against us. They accused us of\u00a0several offences related to\u00a0the issuing of our\u00a0identification documents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our\u00a0son, Vladimir, then three\u00a0years old, was separated from us and sent to an orphanage\u00a0for 42 days\u00a0where\u00a0he suffered physical abuse\u00a0him and\u00a0was forbidden to have contact with anyone he knew.\u00a0He later was allowed to live with his legal guardians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00a0were held in preventive detention for three and a half years\u00a0before being\u00a0sentenced unimaginable jail terms for alleged passport violations: 19 years for\u00a0Igor and 14 years\u00a0each for Irina and Anastasia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, reason seemed to prevail. The Constitutional Court\u00a0annulled\u00a0our\u00a0convictions, taking into account\u00a0Guatemalan and international law\u00a0that considers\u00a0that migrants have no criminal liability\u00a0for the use and creation of identity or travel documents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 2016, we have\u00a0filed\u00a0three complaints against\u00a0Cutino\u00a0International Associates, but the former Attorney General, Thelma\u00a0Aldana\u00a0and Ivan Velasquez, Commissioner of the CICIG,\u00a0have\u00a0refused\u00a0to investigate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of an international media campaign conducted by our friends and supporters, we\u00a0were recently released\u00a0under house arrest and are\u00a0now\u00a0reunited with our son.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0last week, the Constitutional Court\u00a0issued a resolution\u00a0contradicting\u00a0its\u00a0previous resolution and sending us\u00a0for a re-trial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are in no doubt that this lawlessness has occurred because of\u00a0the influence\u00a0of\u00a0the Russian criminal state and its ally CICIG. The Russian system never stops\u00a0trying to crush\u00a0those who it believes to be its enemies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our family has suffered\u00a0emotionally and physically over the past three and a half years. Our numerous complaints to human rights organizations remain unanswered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We call for international support to\u00a0help us put an\u00a0end\u00a0to the flagrant corruption of the judicial process in Guatemala by the Russian state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Bitkov\u00a0Family\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t