human rights defender

Claudia González Orellana

Actions and Campaigns

© Prensa Comunitaria

Organization affiliation

  • Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG)

HRD's year of birth

1968

HRD's Gender

Woman

Type of HRD

  • Lawyer

HRD's thematic area of engagement

  • Fight against corruption
  • Fight against impunity

HRD's geographical origin

Urban

Current Status

Released on bail

HRD's bio and work

Claudia González is a lawyer and human rights defender with 25 years of professional experience in the field of law, justice and human rights advocacy. She worked at the Human Rights Office of the Archbishopric of Guatemala (ODHAG), the Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal Sciences of Guatemala (ICCPG), the Myrna Mack Foundation, the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). In 2023 she was awarded the Lawyers for Lawyers prize in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. That same year, she was arbitrarily sent to the Mariscal Zavala military detention centre in Guatemala City, after being arrested on 28 August, accused of abuse of authority. The arrest followed a search of her home. She was released after 82 days on 17 November.

Detained since

Aug 28, 2023

Date of release

Nov 17, 2023

Charge(s)

  • Other

Latitude: 14.636179849763245

Longitude: -90.47886550426485

Geolocation of detention

Country or area of detention

Region of detention

  • Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean

Location of detention - City/Town

Ciudad de Guatemala

Location of detention - Facility

Mariscal Zabala

Allegations / reports of ill-treatment

Despite the fact that article 9 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala states that the interrogation must be held within 24 hours, in the case of the lawyer and defender of D.D.H.H. Claudia González, a malicious delay was observed, as the hearing corresponding to this procedure was suspended on several occasions.

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