Guatemalan court receives formal request for Duarte's extradition

Juan Daniel Lemus Ramírez

, Secretary of the Guatemalan court , informed this morning to EL UNIVERSAL that on Tuesday's “afternoon” was presented the “ formal accusation ” which Mexico provided last June 7 to the Guatemalan government for the extradition of former governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte de Ochoa . The Mexican documentation was sent the same day by the Guatemalan chancellery to the Public Ministry .

The court will have a minimum of 10 business days and a maximum of 15 to hold a hearing. In the notice for the defense, the court will include copies of the documents presented by Mexico.

Javier Duarte is accused of being linked with organized crime, transactions involving illegally-sourced funds, abuse of authority, legal breaches, graft, influence peddling and coalition , perpetrated during his governance from 2010 to 2016.

The politician, fugitive since October 2016 and detained at Mexico's request on April 15 , was admitted to a prison in the capital of Guatemala.

During the hearing, there will be a debate about the evidence provided by Mexico and each part will expose its respective submissions, said Secretary Lemus. Afterward, the court will deliberate and decide whether or not the extradition is approved .

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