Guatemala: Former CCI Facilitator Arrested; Former WHFC Facilitator Adds Conspiracy Charge to Illegal Adoption Charges

Below is information regarding the arrest of adoption attorney and facilitator Marvin Josue Bran Galindo in connection with the Anyeli Liseth Hernandez kidnapping. He was charged with conspiracy. These are only charges but the judge ordered an arrest.

Also charged but did not show up to the hearing is Alma Beatriz Flores de Mejia, in connection with the same case and for child trafficking and forged documents. She did not show up to court claiming ill health and was placed on house arrest.

http://cicig.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=8...

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Guatemala: Former CCI Facilitator Arrested; Former WHFC Facilitator Adds Conspiracy Charge to Illegal Adoption Charges

According to a March 29, 2011 press release, Marvin Bran Josue Galindo aka Marvin Bran, former CCI facilitator, has been arrested. An additional charge of conspiracy has been added to Alma Beatriz Valle Flores de Mejía's, former WHFC facilitator, list of charges. She had previously been charged with trafficking and use of forged documents.

The Google Translation of the Press Release is as follows:

"017 PRESS RELEASE

SYNDICATED ORDERED TO PRISON IN CASE OF ILLEGAL ADOPTION

Guatemala, March 29, 2011. The Fourth Court of First Instance Criminal Court overturned the order of freedom in favor of Marvin Bran Joshua Galindo, accused of participating in illegal adoption procedures, and ordered their immediate arrest for tampering with a witness to testify in his favor.

The decision of the judiciary is derived from the request of the Special Prosecutor Unit Support CICIG UEFAC-prosecutors, who sought to revoke the alternatives that were awarded to Bran Galindo to regain their freedom after being linked to process of trafficking and conspiracy.

Among the means of conviction that the Public Ministry (MP) introduced the measure is highlighted in a statement from the witness, who stated that the accused gave him a manuscript in which the guidelines said that she had declared for ex blame him the accusations.

Add offense

In a second hearing and the same process, the said court added the crime of conspiracy to Alma Beatriz Valle Flores de Mejía, syndicated processes involved in illegal adoptions. This is in addition to trafficking and use of forged documents, for which he was prosecuted to the first statement.

As syndicated apologized for failing to appear at the hearing for alleged ill health, the judge ordered that he have a medical report to determine the veracity of his apology, and it is found otherwise the judge indicated that preventive detention would be ordered."