He made the call in a writ or auto issued on 16 January, which, besides this call, makes a number of withering attacks on the Guatemalan legal system and its compliance with international law. He complains in his writ about a "clear dilatory attitude" to all his requests for collaboration, culminating in the Constitutional Court decision. He also comments that all this "does no more than reiterate what has been long established, that Guatemala has done nothing to punish this crime" and that "Guatemala as a state is violating the commitment of all civilised nations to prevent and punish such a crime as established in the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide". In the face of this he says it is therefore imperative that investigations continue in Spain and he has no choice but to look to other means. He calls on the media in Guatemala, the countries bordering it and the United States to publish his call for information.
In a spirit of solidarity we also reproduce Judge Pedraz' call for information in its entirety here, and hope that any of our readers who might have information of the kind required will feel able to collaborate:
"El Juzgado Central de Instrucción Número Uno de la Audiencia Nacional
de España, a la vista de la negativa de las autoridades guatemaltecas a
colaborar en la investigación, solicita a todas aquellas personas que
sean víctimas, perjudicados, testigos, o cualesquiera otras que puedan
suministrar información relevante sobre el GENOCIDIO Y DEMÁS DELITOS
COMETIDOS CONTRA EL PUEBLO MAYA EN GUATEMALA la pongan en conocimiento
de este Juzgado a través de los canales oportunos y adecuados para
ellos en dichos países de conformidad con lo establecido en el derecho
español a tal efecto. Dicha información será oportunamente remitida a
este Juzgado para incorporarla a la causa (Diligencias Previas
331/1999)"
La Hora has already published dates for three groups of witnesses to appear.
The whole of Judge Pedraz' auto (four pages) is available as an attachment to this item.
