Guatemalan judge issues arrest warrant for acting Guatemala President

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Guatemala’s attorney general has said she has a warrant for the arrest of President Otto Pérez Molina amid a corruption scandal that has gutted his government and plunged the country into chaos days before a presidential election.

In a fast moving climax to a crisis that has roiled Guatemala for months, Pérez Molina, a 64-year-old retired general who was elected on a ticket to combat crime and corruption, had his immunity from prosecution stripped by lawmakers on Tuesday. “Armenpress” reports, referring to The Guardian, that on Wednesday the country’s top prosecutor’s office tweeted that the attorney general, Thelma Aldana, had asked for an arrest warrant for Pérez Molina. An official from Aldanas office confirmed the request had been made.

Soon afterwards, Aldana said Judge Miquel Angel Galvez had issued the order on crimes of illicit association, fraud and receiving bribe money related to a widespread customs fraud ring in which the vice-president has already been jailed and faces charges. Aldana spoke late on Wednesday to the Canal Antigua television station.

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