Virginia Laparra faced aggressive SLAPPs, inhumane conditions in prison and forced exile after drawing attention to judicial corruption

Virginia Laparra is a former prosecutor for Guatemala's Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity (FECI), where she specialised in bringing organised crime figures to justice. Laparra headed a unit at the UN’s anti-corruption mission, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

The initiative had some notable successes, with more than 400 convictions secured over the 12 years of its existence. The most prominent of these was investigations, known as La Linea, exposed a large-scale customs fraud ring, which implicated the then President and Vice President – who both resigned and were arrested in 2015.

For six years, Laparra was one of the FECI’s most prominent prosecutors. She investigated human rights violations related to state corruption involving hundreds of millions. Within Guatemala, she was widely known as the “anti-mafia prosecutor.” She had powerful enemies.

The CICIG mission was controversially dissolved in 2019 by then-president Jimmy Morale as part of a wider clampdown on anticorruption efforts and media independence. Many involved in CICIG have faced repercussions from the Guatemalan government, but Laparra was singled out for her track record in targeting senior and influential figures.

Laparra was arrested in February 2022 after filing four separate administrative complaints against a judge for alleged corruption. In 2018, as part of her job, she had alleged that the judge had unlawfully leaked sensitive details in a corruption case that was supposed to be protected under seal. She said that the judge had also accessed case files that fell outside his area of responsibility.

The judge at the centre of the allegations, Lesther Castellanos, was sanctioned with a five day suspension as a result of the allegations made by Laparra and CICG and administratively prosecuted for several more corruption allegations. Subsequently, Castellanos criminal complaints against Laparra with the assistance of the right-wing group Fundación Contra el Terrorismo (Foundation Against Terrorism).

Those criminal complaints led to a purposely drawn-out trial, a preordained conviction for “abuse of power” and four-year prison sentence in December 2022, by which time Laparra had already spent 11 months in prison on remand. Amnesty International named Laparra as a prisoner of conscience, characterising her treatment at the hands of the state as a political reprisal.

In part due to that international pressure, Laparra was released to house arrest in January 2024, but the official harassment did not stop there. In fact, she was on other charges related to her work and sentenced to a further five years’ imprisonment. Laparra then decided to leave Guatemala and go into exile, leaving her two daughters behind.

During her incarceration, Laparra endured inhumane conditions and health issues, including multiple surgeries without adequate recovery time. She spent her first five months of imprisonment in solitary confinement. The conditions Laparra experienced made her consider pleading guilty or ending her own life. She says that it was the support of her daughters that kept her going.

Those responsible for the persecution of Virginia Laparra are still trying to secure arrest warrants on both the national and international level. On 22 April 2025, the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court rejected a request for Laparr’s arrest; that case is currently before Guatemala’s Constitutional Court. Only a few weeks later, the Fifth Chamber of the Court of Appeals issued a separate arrest warrant for Laparra and ordered that a request be made for her arrest abroad. Interpol has accepted the Court’s request but has not yet ruled on whether to implement it.

Facing these ongoing legal threats and what she believes to be a personal vendetta from the public prosecutor’s office, Laparra chose exile to protect herself and her family. Laparra's case exemplifies the risks faced by anti-corruption advocates in Guatemala, especially women, who often bear additional burdens due to familial responsibilities.

Amnesty International is not the only civil society organisation to recognise Virginia Laparra’s heroism. In February 2025 she was honoured by the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk with their Sir Henry Brooke award honouring human rights defenders. In their citation, they said:

“Throughout the terrible hardships that Ms Laparra has faced, and the enormous sacrifices she has had to make, she has remained a strong advocate for justice and the rule of law at the cost of her own personal security and safety. “

Speaking to the Fund for Global Human Rights, she said “My fight for the human rights of all will not stop. I will continue fighting from wherever I am, for a more just, free and dignified world for all.”