Guatemala’s ‘Femicide’ Courts Hold Out New Hope for Justice
Guatemala’s ‘Femicide’ Courts Hold Out New Hope for Justice
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 2 2013 (IPS) - Douglas Cuc, a 32-year-old clown, entered the courtroom with the same smile on his face as when he told jokes for coins on the buses in the town of San Miguel Petapa, near the Guatemalan capital. But this time there was no greasepaint on his face, he did not wear his clown’s nose, and he was in handcuffs.
A year and a half earlier he visited his ex-wife, Evelin Pacheco, on the pretext of taking something to their 10-year-old daughter. Neighbours said that on the night of Jan. 25, 2012 they heard screams and then complete silence. The next morning, the young mother’s lifeless body was found at the foot of the stairs.
Cuc was later taken to the scene of the crime, where he tried to persuade the investigators that his ex-wife had fallen down the stairs. But her body showed signs of strangulation and bruising.
Based on the forensic evidence, the history of violence in the relationship and the testimony of neighbours and other witnesses, the public prosecutor’s office charged him with femicide – gender-based murder – in a trial that is being held in a new type of court specialising in violence against women.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/guatemalas-femicide-courts-hold-out-new-hope-for-justice/