A Guatemalan court began on Tuesday the final hearing in the trial of seven former officials over the deaths of 41 girls in a fire at a state shelter in 2017, a tragedy that shocked the country. The girls and adolescents died at the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home on March 8, 2017, International Women’s Day, during a protest in which they denounced mistreatment and sexual exploitation at the facility, according to the investigation.
The minors set mattresses on fire in the room where they were locked after attempting to escape, but the blaze quickly spread and they could not get out because the door was locked.
Judge Ingrid Cifuentes opened the hearing in which she is to hear the final statements from those accused of negligent homicide and failure to perform duties, among other charges. She could deliver a verdict on Tuesday or set another date to announce the ruling.
The seven former officials remain under house arrest. “We hope this verdict will be a conviction (…) and that the State’s responsibility can be established,” said Paula Barrios, coordinator of the NGO Women Transforming the World, a plaintiff in the trial that began in January 2024.
Barrios hopes the sentence will serve as a “guarantee of non-repetition” of such events and that the 15 survivors and the families of the 41 victims will receive appropriate “reparation measures.”
In May, the prosecution requested prison sentences of 131 years for the former head of the Secretariat of Social Welfare, Carlos Rodas, and for the former director of the shelter, Santos Torres.
It also requested 126 years for former official of the Attorney General’s Office, Harold Flores, and former head of the shelter’s protection unit, Brenda Chamán. For former police officers Lucinda Marroquín and Luis Pérez, prosecutors sought 122 and 117 years, respectively.
Meanwhile, for former official of the state human rights office, Gloria Castro, prosecutors requested a four-year sentence. “What was in the hearts of these people not to hear our cries for help, not to open the door when we were pleading for assistance?” testified survivor Emelin Del Cid before the court in late July.
Activist Rosa Gallardo, who maintains an altar in honor of the victims in Guatemala City’s central square, told AFP that a conviction would set a “historic precedent” for the country.
