Vance Center, NYC Bar File Amicus Brief to UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Behalf of Guatemalan Indigenous Authorities

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The New York City Bar Association and its nonprofit program the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice today filed an amicus brief to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in representation of Luis Haroldo Pacheco Gutiérrez and Héctor Samuel Chaclán Batz, Indigenous authorities and former officials who have spent more than 15 months arbitrarily detained in Guatemala.

The brief argues that their detention is arbitrary under four of the Working Group’s five categories. It asks the Working Group to declare Pacheco and Chaclán’s detention as arbitrary and call upon the Guatemalan state to ensure their unconditional release and provide full reparations.

Pacheco and Chaclán have been held in pretrial detention since their arrest in April 2025 on charges related to road blockades tied to widespread public protests in October 2023. At the time of his arrest, Pacheco was serving as Guatemala’s Vice Minister for Sustainable Development.

The proceedings against Pacheco and Chaclán have been marked by repeated violations of their rights, including the basic right to due process, and an order of secrecy that has left their defense team unable to access critical information about the case. The charges against them include sedition, terrorism, unlawful association, and obstruction; if convicted, they could face decades in prison.

They were arrested by prosecutors working under former Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been accused of leading a campaign to roll back anti-corruption efforts and faces international sanctions for corruption.

“The continued arbitrary detention of Luis Haroldo Pacheco Gutiérrez and Héctor Samuel Chaclán Batz is exactly the kind of case that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was created to address,” said Milena Klimberg van Marrewijk, Program Advisor with the Vance Center’s Human Rights and Access to Justice Program. “Pacheco and Chaclán have repeatedly challenged their detention before Guatemalan courts, and those courts have simply not responded. Every person has a right to due process, but when courts fail to uphold that right, the Working Group is there to ensure their freedom doesn’t depend on those courts. A finding from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention would recognize the rights violations suffered by Pacheco and Chaclán for what they are.”

Background

Luis Haroldo Pacheco Gutiérrez and Héctor Samuel Chaclán Batz previously held positions in the Council of Communal Mayors of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, a regional communal-government structure in Guatemala’s Maya K’iche’ Indigenous community. Pacheco chaired its board and Chaclán served as the Council’s treasurer.

In October 2023, the Council played a central role in organizing and coordinating peaceful demonstrations in support of the results of the August 2023 general election. Pacheco, as its president, became one of the movement’s most visible leaders.

The popular protests arose in response to efforts by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, under then-Attorney General Consuelo Porras, to block the democratic transition of power. The demonstrations and national strike were ultimately successful in securing the inauguration of President Bernardo Arévalo in January 2024. However, Pacheco and Chaclán faced criminal charges for their involvement.

On October 9, 2023, the Foundation Against Terrorism, a Guatemalan organization that has consistently targeted and harassed journalists and human rights defenders, filed a criminal complaint accusing Pacheco of sedition. The complaint also asked prosecutors to investigate the 48 Cantons as a “criminal group.”

At a hearing on April 10, 2025, a judge approved prosecutors’ request for an order to arrest both men on charges of sedition, terrorism, unlawful association, and obstruction. That hearing was conducted ex parte, without any defense present. Police arrested them two weeks later, on April 23, 2025, over road blockades tied to the 2023 protests. The potential sentences are severe: the crime of terrorism alone carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison under Guatemalan law.

The criminal proceedings have violated Pacheco and Chaclán’s rights to basic due process from the beginning. Their first appearance hearing was held 47 hours after their arrest, well after the 24-hour limit set by Guatemala’s Constitution, and without prosecutors present. On April 10, 2025, the tribunal placed the entire case under total secrecy, leaving the defense unable to access the complete evidence file. Under Guatemalan law, cases are usually placed under secrecy as an exceptional, short-term investigative measure that is capped at ten days and extendable once only. The court has extended this order of secrecy six times, without any additional justification for such extraordinary measures.

Both men have now spent more than 15 months in arbitrary detention. They have not appeared before a judge since their initial hearing on April 25, 2025. Almost a full year later, in April 2026, an appeals court extended their pretrial detention to September 23, 2026, without justification. This extension violates Guatemala’s one-year statutory limit for pretrial detention.

In May 2026, they filed a complaint before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The brief filed today follows an amicus brief filed by the Vance Center and a group of civil society organizations before the Amparo and Preliminary Proceedings Chamber of Guatemala’s Supreme Court in December 2025. That brief argued that Pacheco and Chaclán’s pretrial detention is arbitrary under international standards and asked the court to order an intermediate hearing to take place, review the detention, and lift the secrecy. The Court has not responded to this request.

In addition to the direct violations of their rights, the case against Pacheco and Chaclán has also involved several high-profile Guatemalan individuals accused of corruption, raising broader concerns about the legitimacy of the process and those leading it.

Pacheco was accused of sedition for demanding the resignation of former Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who led the Attorney General’s office at the time of their arrest. Porras has been sanctioned by the United States, Canada, the European Union, and others for alleged corruption, persecution of human rights defenders and attempting to undermine the results of the 2023 election.

From 2023 to 2025, the case passed through a series of judges before landing before Judge Fredy Orellana, who has been designated a corrupt and undemocratic actor by the U.S. Department of State and sanctioned by the EU for undermining democracy.

For media inquiries and more information, contact nsouthwick@nycbar.org or efriedman@nycbar.org.

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About the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice
The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice of the New York City Bar Association advances global justice by engaging lawyers across borders to support civil society and an ethically active legal profession. The Vance Center is a unique collaboration of international lawyers catalyzing public interest innovation that brings together leading law firms and other partners worldwide to pioneer international justice initiatives and provide pro bono legal representation to social justice NGOs. www.vancecenter.org

About the New York City Bar Association
The mission of the New York City Bar Association, which was founded in 1870 and has over 20,000 members, is to equip and mobilize a diverse legal profession to practice with excellence, promote reform of the law, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society and the public interest in our community, our nation, and throughout the world. www.nycbar.org