Seven former police officers sentenced in Guatemala over killing of gay couple
A court in Guatemala City sentenced seven former police officers on October 21, 2026, in the case of two men who were a couple and died after being detained in 2024. AFP reports the verdict in an article published by La Nación. The sentences range from eight to 60 years in prison.
Two defendants received 60 years each for extrajudicial execution, with 30 years for each victim. Another former officer received 30 years for one man’s death and was acquitted in relation to the other, Prensa Libre explains.
Two former female officers received 11 years each for discrimination and breach of official duties. The remaining two received eight years for abuse of authority and unlawful detention, and ten years for obstructing criminal proceedings and breach of duty.
The case concerns Milton Nelson Santamaría, who held Canadian and Salvadoran citizenship, and his Guatemalan partner, Eldin Choc. They were detained on April 18, 2024, in San Andrés Itzapa in western Guatemala and taken to a police station. Cristosal, the organisation representing Choc’s family, says the detention was unlawful.
According to Cristosal, witnesses described beatings and homophobic insults after the men said they were a couple. Santamaría died after being beaten at the station, and Choc’s body was found seven days later. Audio messages from a female police officer describing events helped initiate inquiries.
The defence sought acquittals, arguing that there was insufficient evidence of the defendants’ involvement in the crimes, La Hora reported before the verdict. The court imposed sentences according to each former officer’s established role.
Cristosal describes the crime as motivated by prejudice and notes that Guatemala has no separate hate-crime offence. This is the assessment of an organisation representing a victim’s family; the convictions were for extrajudicial execution, discrimination and other offences.
Guatemala City’s court complex: Torre de Tribunales and the Supreme Court. Archive photo, 2011. Photo: Sistematización y Co… / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped and resized.
Urania previously reported on regional monitoring of killings of LGBT people in Latin America. Guatemala’s Lambda Association also participates in that monitoring.
