{"id":2136,"date":"2019-04-25T00:16:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T06:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2019-07-06T00:33:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-06T06:33:06","slug":"english-one-year-after-the-helsinki-commission-bitkov-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/2019\/04\/25\/english-one-year-after-the-helsinki-commission-bitkov-case\/","title":{"rendered":"One year after the Helsinki commission &#8211; Bitkov case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/index.php\/2019\/04\/24\/un-ano-despues-de-la-comision-helsinki-por-el-caso-bitkov\/\" class=\"su-button su-button-style-default\" style=\"color:#FFFFFF;background-color:#2D89EF;border-color:#246ec0;border-radius:5px\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color:#FFFFFF;padding:0px 16px;font-size:13px;line-height:26px;border-color:#6cadf4;border-radius:5px;text-shadow:none\"> Espa\u00f1ol Disponible AQUI<\/span><\/a>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"\">On\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><b><span class=\"\">April 27, 2018,<\/span><\/b><span class=\"\">\u00a0something happened that the absolute majority of Guatemalans never expected.\u00a0<\/span><b>The <\/b>hearing of the\u00a0<b>International Bicameral Commission of Security and Cooperation in Europe known as the Helsinki Commission<\/b>\u00a0of the USA was held in the US Senate\u00a0.\u00a0The hearing with name\u00a0<strong>\u00abThe long arm of injustice\u00bb<\/strong>\u00a0was dedicated to the case of the political persecution of\u00a0<strong>the Bitkov family in Guatemala.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MJAFaFgWIJU?feature=oembed\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The hearing was initiated by the speech of the\u00a0<strong>Co-Chair of the Helsinki Commission<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<strong>Christopher Henry Smith<\/strong>\u00a0, who has testified about the tragedy that occurred in Guatemala with our family.\u00a0Two brave lawyers of our family\u00a0<strong>Rolando Alvarado Lemus and Victoria Sandoval<\/strong>\u00a0presented the evidence of the serious violations of Human Rights and the injustice suffered by our family in Guatemala.\u00a0His affirmations were fully confirmed with the speech of\u00a0<strong>Bill Browder &#8211; the famous defender of DD.HH and author of The Magnitsky Law<\/strong>\u00a0.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2106\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2106 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Rolando-Alvarado-Vicktoria-Sandoval-Cristother-Smith-Bill-Browder.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Rolando-Alvarado-Vicktoria-Sandoval-Cristother-Smith-Bill-Browder.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Rolando-Alvarado-Vicktoria-Sandoval-Cristother-Smith-Bill-Browder-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Rolando-Alvarado-Vicktoria-Sandoval-Cristother-Smith-Bill-Browder-768x576.jpg 768w\" alt=\"Rolando Alvarado, Vicktoria Sandoval, Cristother Smith, Bill Browder\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2106\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2106\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rolando Alvarado, Victoria Sandoval, Christopher Smith, Bill Browder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Bill Browder presented the numerous evidences before the Commission that the persecution of our family was directed by the Russian government and was carried out through the Russian banks.\u00a0The CICIG and the MP led by Thelma Aldana lent themselves to the service of the Russian banks.\u00a0<\/strong>The evidence was so strong that no representative of the CICIG or the MP did not dare to speak out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The consequences for CICIG were serious.\u00a0The senators of the USA for the first time have discovered the true image of the CICIG<\/strong>\u00a0.\u00a0It was very disappointing to recognize that the CICIG created by the UN and financed in large part by the US and several other democratic countries lent itself to selective and illegal persecution of our family for the Russian criminal state.\u00a0The corruption of CICIG was evident.\u00a0Several US senators have issued their public pronouncements towards the CICIG.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2117\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2117\" src=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Senador-Mike-Lee.jpg\" alt=\"Senator Mike Lee\" width=\"199\" height=\"253\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2117\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2117\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senator Mike Lee<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most definite was the statement by\u00a0<strong>Uta State Senator &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><b>Michael S. Lee.\u00a0<\/b>Senator Michael S. Lee in his statement emphasized\u00a0<b>: \u00abCICIG should be operating to eradicate real corruption, instead of building or bringing down winners or political losers.\u00bb\u00a0\u00abIt has been unfair to the Bitkov.\u00a0It is unfair to all those who seek a free and prosperous Guatemala.\u00a0Today I wish that CICIG would never be established.\u00a0I wish we could have spent all these funds and all this time working on corruption issues, but also on transnational crime.\u00a0Or in the creation of economic opportunities for both Guatemalans and Americans.\u00a0Or to strengthen the current government of Guatemala established by the people of Guatemala. \u00ab<\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2116\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2116 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-declaracion-de-M.-Lee-para-la-comision-Helsinki.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2881px) 100vw, 2881px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-declaracion-de-M.-Lee-para-la-comision-Helsinki.jpg 2881w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-declaracion-de-M.-Lee-para-la-comision-Helsinki-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-declaracion-de-M.-Lee-para-la-comision-Helsinki-768x1075.jpg 768w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-declaracion-de-M.-Lee-para-la-comision-Helsinki-732x1024.jpg 732w\" alt=\"The statement of M. Lee for the Helsinki commission\" width=\"2881\" height=\"4033\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2116\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2116\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">M. Lee&#8217;s statement to the Helsinki commission<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_2118\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2118\" src=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Senador-Marco-Rubio.jpg\" alt=\"Senator Marco Rubio\" width=\"201\" height=\"251\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2118\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2118\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senator Marco Rubio<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Texas Senator\u00a0<strong>Marco Rubio<\/strong>\u00a0has declared.\u00a0<b>\u00abI am concerned that CICIG, a commission partially funded by the United States, has been manipulated and used by the radical elements and by the Russian campaign against the Bitkov family in Guatemala.\u00a0CICIG was established by the United Nations and Guatemala to prosecute corruption and human rights abuses, not to participate in it.\u00a0While I support the idea behind this Commission, it will suspend the release of $ 6 million in funds from US taxpayers until we have clear answers about their role in the mistreatment of the Bitkov family. \u00ab<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A few days after the hearing, Senator\u00a0<strong>Marco Rubio<\/strong>\u00a0sent the letter to President\u00a0<strong>Jimmy Morales<\/strong>\u00a0with the request to support our family and investigate the role of CICIG in our persecution.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2114\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2114 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-carta-de-Marco-Rubio-para-Jimmy-Morales.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2987px) 100vw, 2987px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-carta-de-Marco-Rubio-para-Jimmy-Morales.jpg 2987w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-carta-de-Marco-Rubio-para-Jimmy-Morales-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-carta-de-Marco-Rubio-para-Jimmy-Morales-768x1070.jpg 768w, https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/La-carta-de-Marco-Rubio-para-Jimmy-Morales-735x1024.jpg 735w\" alt=\"Marco Rubio's letter to Jimmy Morales\" width=\"2987\" height=\"4161\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2114\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2114\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marco Rubio&#8217;s letter to Jimmy Morales<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>On May 5, 2018, US funds destined for CICIG were frozen by the request of several senators.\u00a0<\/strong>The CICIG tried to divert and confuse the whole world about its role and participation in the persecution against our family.\u00a0His numerous statements and the publications of the co-opted media did not manage to clean up his destroyed image.\u00a0It was not possible to sell the false version that captured and condemned the family of migrants, tortured them, put the 3-year-old child into the orphanage &#8211; it was something worthy of CICIG&#8217;s mandate.\u00a0<strong>CICIG has never been able to explain &#8211; Why did they lend impunity to the entire criminal structure of human traffickers?<\/strong>\u00a0The corruption of the CICIG, the MP judges and prosecutors who participated in this persecution was all too evident.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unfortunately, neither UN nor other CICIG sponsors at that time were able to accept the reality and make an effort to correct and clean CICIG from the corruption and other vices that invaded this organization for 12 years of its existence without any control. Instead of correcting mistakes, they preferred to close their eyes and accept CICIG&#8217;s few and dubious arguments. Iv\u00e1n Velazquez &#8211; has shown his foolish and perverse position, when at the end of May 2018, he had to appear before the Helsinki Commission and tried to give the Senators explanations regarding our case behind the closed doors, as he has demanded. Without having any success to defend indefensible, Velazquez began to declare that CICIG is independent of all and must not render accounts to anyone. It seems that this position was not a better option for the sponsors and it did not help him to overcome the crisis. His numerous trips to European countries also did not give him the result he expected. He was always chased by the same question:<strong>What happened to the Russian family?\u00a0<\/strong>It seems that his answers did not convince anyone. Even the most faithful followers of CICIG in Europe and in the US often expressed their disappointment for \u00abThe case of the Russians\u00bb where CICIG looked more than questionable. Using all their effort, influence peddling and a lot of astuteness, Vel\u00e1zquez and his team have managed to get 3 judges of the CC to contradict the Law and their own resolutions, resolving the complaint filed by the judge &#8211; puppet of CICIG &#8211; Erica Aifan Then another mockery of the trial was made to condemn me to 5 years of prison. <strong>However, this new conviction did not help to Vel\u00e1zquez, CICIG, or his accomplices. On the contrary, the new details were clarified in a new trial &#8211; such as the participation in the criminal structure of the persons closest to Vel\u00e1squez and Aldana, amongst which were the ex-secretary of MP Mayra Veliz and former Minister of Foreign Affairs &#8211; Ra\u00fal Morales, also during the trial it had came out that CICIG and FECI gave full impunity to the entire criminal structure of human traffickers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2119\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2119\" src=\"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Senador-Roger-Wicker.jpg\" alt=\"Senator Roger Wicker\" width=\"200\" height=\"240\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2119\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2119\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senator Roger Wicker<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In these days, the president of the Helsinki Commission\u00a0<strong>the Senator of Mississippi &#8211; Roger Wicker<\/strong>\u00a0in his historical speech before the\u00a0<strong>president of the US Donald Trump<\/strong>\u00a0devoted most of the issue to our case.\u00a0The Senator pronounced himself among everything:\u00a0<strong>\u00abThere is no other better example of this argument (corruption of CICIG) than the persecution initiated by CICIG to the Bitkov family led by the Russian government, for all its many flaws that are numerous, the decision of CICIG to conspire with Russia is more outrageous. \u00bb\u00a0<\/strong>\u00ab<strong>US taxpayers who pay the CICIG account have the right to ask Commissioner Vel\u00e1squez and his CICIG team. Is this way to fight corruption in Guatemala?\u00a0In short, CICIG under the direction of the commissioner Vel\u00e1zquez went from \u00abfighting corruption\u00bb\u00a0<\/strong><strong>to doing the dirty work of Vladimir Putin, going so far as to persecute corruption victims like the Bitkov.\u00a0The case of the Bitkov demonstrates how bad and lost this CICIG is \u00ab.\u00a0\u00abCICIG is fulfilling the orders of Putin&#8217;s henchmen, acting as the long arm of the Russian dictatorship.\u00a0The intervention of a bank controlled by the Kremlin shows that influencing CICIG is part of a broad Kremlin campaign to exert pressure across Latin America. \u00ab<\/strong>The conclusion of the speech is more than clear\u00a0<strong>: \u00abThis is an opportunity for Guatemalans to work their way to justice that the CICIG abandoned in its complicity with the vendetta of Moscow, this should start with the end of the long nightmare of the Bitkov Family .\u00a0His terrible experience has gone beyond a judicial error and with the CICIG out, Guatemala should do the right thing without further delay or excuse. \u00ab<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-youtube su-u-responsive-media-yes\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uc7ps8triLU?autohide=2&amp;autoplay=0&amp;mute=0&amp;controls=1&amp;fs=1&amp;loop=0&amp;modestbranding=0&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;theme=dark&amp;wmode=&amp;playsinline=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture\" title=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This speech concludes all the enormous disappointment of CICIG&#8217;s work in Guatemala on the part of its biggest sponsor &#8211; US. Thus the end of CICIG experiment was predestined.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Today, 1 year after the hearing of the Helsinki Commission we can define that this hearing was the historical event, not only for our family but for all of Guatemala. On this day, the process of the liberation of Guatemala from a system of judicial terrorism, formed around the CICIG, was initiated. Taking advantage of its almost absolute power, it became an immense corruption that took Guatemala to a form of dictatorship. There are many victims of this system. Some lost health, others lost their lives, but thanks to the audience of the <strong>Helsinki Commission<\/strong>\u00a0, to the courage and effort of\u00a0<strong>Bill Browder, Christopher Smith, Roger Wicker, Marco Rubio, Rolando Alvarado, Victoria Sandoval<\/strong> and many other people &#8211; the world has recognized the truth and the process of recuperation has began.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>There is one more lesson from this audience &#8211; we have seen that US democracy is able to correct its errors in an effective and immediate way and can adapt quickly learning from mistakes in complicated and variable circumstances. That is why US democracy is an example of global development and leadership.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Espa\u00f1ol Disponible AQUI On\u00a0\u00a0April 27, 2018,\u00a0something happened that the absolute majority of Guatemalans never expected.\u00a0The hearing of the\u00a0International Bicameral Commission of Security and Cooperation in Europe known as the Helsinki Commission\u00a0of the USA was held in the US Senate\u00a0.\u00a0The hearing with name\u00a0\u00abThe long arm of injustice\u00bb\u00a0was dedicated to the case of the political persecution of\u00a0the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/igorbitkov.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}