Interim Report - Report No 87, 1966

Case No 396 (Guatemala) - Complaint date: 01-OCT-64 - Closed

1. 234. This case has already been before the Committee at its 39th Session (February 1965), when the Committee submitted to the Governing Body an interim report in paragraphs 169 to 175 of the Committee's 81st Report. At its 40th Session (May 1965) the Committee decided to postpone examination of the case as it had still not received the text of the judgment pronounced in the case against Mr. Eustaquio Paz Muralles, which had been requested from the Government.
2. 235. By a communication dated 7 December 1965 the Government supplied information as to the stage reached in these proceedings.
3. 236. Guatemala has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 237. In its complaint, dated 1 October 1964, the Latin American Confederation of Christian Trade Unionists (C.L.A.S.C.) alleged that Mr. Paz Muralles, leader of the Guatemalan Social Federation of Christian Peasants, had been subjected to unjust and prolonged imprisonment.
2. 238. In its reply the Government stated that, according to a statement made by the General Secretary of the Guatemalan Social Federation of Christian Peasants, Mr. Paz Muralles had resigned his post as Disputes Secretary of the Federation in April 1964 to take up office in a political party, and that he was now on trial for the murder of two persons. The Government maintained that this fact had nothing whatsoever to do with freedom of association.
3. 239. In accordance with the practice followed by the Committee in similar cases in which pending proceedings might make available information of assistance to it in appreciating whether or not allegations were well founded, the Committee recommended the Governing Body in paragraph 175 of its 81st Report to decide to request the Government to supply a copy of the judgment pronounced in the case against Mr. Eustaquio Paz Muralles and the grounds on which it was based, and meanwhile to postpone examination of the case.
4. 240. These conclusions, approved by the Governing Body at its 161st Session (March 1965), were transmitted to the Government by a communication dated 10 March 1965. At its 41st Session (November 1965) the Committee took note of a communication from the Government to the effect that the information requested would be sent as soon as it was available.
5. 241. By a communication dated 7 December 1965 the Government supplies a copy of a report submitted by the Court Martial Judge at the Military Base of Puerto Barrios to the Chairman of the Judiciary on 19 August 1965 which refers to the case of Mr. Paz Muralles. In the report it is stated that on 6 April 1964 Messrs. Josh Nery and Federico Guillermo Padilla Garcia were assaulted, murdered and robbed in the town of Los Arrates, it being alleged that the perpetrators of this deed were one of the bands of rebels who roam around pillaging the mountain regions in that area, and who, according to evidence given before the examining magistrate, were acting on the advice of and in close collaboration with the trade unionist Paz Muralles and 17 local peasants, for which reason the latter have been taken into custody and brought to trial before the Military Tribunal at Puerto Barrios. The report adds that during the trial none of the accused has been able to disprove the evidence which justified their being held in provisional custody on charges of murder and robbery in an isolated spot, and that the trial is still in progress, having reached its final phase, on the conclusion of which sentence will be passed.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 242. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to take note of the Government's statement to the effect that the trial is still in progress and to request the Government once again to be good enough to forward the text of the judgment and the grounds on which it is based as soon as it is available, and meanwhile to postpone examination of the case.