From Casa-Alianza:
----------------------
January 22nd, 2004

Bruce Harris Rejects Retraction in Court Case

Guatemala, 12:30pm. Shortly after the start of the trial this morning against Bruce Harris, the Regional Director for Latin American Programs of Casa Alianza/Covenant House, the possibility of reaching a mutual agreement to discontinue the case disappeared and legal proceedings were suspended after the reading of the accusation and having listened to the first witness.

Notary Susana Luarca de Umaña, ex-wife of the President of the Supreme Court in the country, indicated that she would be in agreement to end the case against Harris if he would publicly retract what he had stated against her and pay a financial compensation, without specifying the amount.

Luarca sued Harris in 1997 as a result of a press conference offered jointly between the Solicitor General’s Office and Casa Alianza, in which a series of irregularities in international adoptions came to light. Her name figured in a list of complaints that the entity presented to the Public Prosecutor’s office.

I will not “negotiate” an agreement on the base of an economic payment just to get out of this accusation when we are talking about a guaranteed right – in this case, my Freedom of Expression. Rights are not negotiable”, insisted Harris during a short recess.

Harris maintains that his declarations were given as a result of a joint investigation between the Solicitor General’s Office and Casa Alianza to denounce the international adoptions business and the human rights violations of the babies and their biological parents.

Asisclo Valladares who, in 1997, was the Solicitor General of Guatemala echoed his words.

“In this press conference we explained the results of the investigation. The cooperative agreement with Casa Alianza was signed long before this. Bruce Harris only expressed himself before the media”, Valladares indicated. The former Solicitor General and actual Guatemalan Ambassador to the Vatican reiterated the existence of “people who prostitute the institution of adoption simply in order to obtain (financial) benefits”.

For Victor Hugo Navarro, Harris’ lawyer, Valladares’ testimony cleared up many points despite the fact that he was cited to appear as a witness for Susana Luarca.

“It is key to this process to show that the statements made during the press conference cannot be classified as criminal because Harris used his freedom of speech during an official event as a spokesperson for the Solicitor General’s Office who had requested this joint investigation into adoptions”, explained the lawyer.

Observers of the trial included Michael García Bochenek, from Human Rights Watch in New York as well as consular and diplomatic representatives from Great Britain, Germany, Canada and Holland amongst others and a host of the world’s press.

Harris externalized his disagreement of the fact that this case is being tried in a criminal court instead of a Printers Tribunal – a civil case – as the Guatemalan Constitution stipulates.

The case against Harris, which was attended by scores of people in a very cramped space, was suspended at 11am due to a scheduling conflict in the court. The case was ordered to re-start at 13:30 hours tomorrow, Friday January 23rd where two witnesses will be presented before sentencing.