Libro Quinto. Ejecución

The convicted person may exercise, during the execution of the penalty, all the rights and powers that the criminal and penitentiary laws and regulations grant to him, raising before the execution judge all the observations he deems appropriate.

Defense counsel previously appointed shall have the right to technical defense and may continue to exercise it. In any case, new defense counsel may be appointed or it may be requested that one be appointed for him ex officio.

The duty to supervise the execution of the penalty shall not fall upon defense counsel; he shall only advise the convicted person when he so requests and intervene in the incidents raised during the execution of the penalty.

Criminal convictions shall not be executed before they become final. To that end, on the day they become final, the corresponding communications and registrations shall be ordered and the case file shall be referred to the execution judge.

When the convicted person must serve a penalty involving deprivation of liberty, the execution judge shall transmit the enforceable copy of the ruling to the establishment where the imprisonment is to be served, so that action may be taken as appropriate. If the convicted person is at liberty, the judge shall immediately order the detention of the convicted person and, once apprehended, shall proceed in accordance with this rule.

The judge shall also order the indispensable copies so that the measures to implement the accessory effects of the judgment may be carried out: communications, registrations, confiscation, destruction and return of things and documents.

The execution judge shall review the computation made in the judgment, crediting the imprisonment served since detention, and shall determine precisely the date on which the sentence ends and, where applicable, the date from which the convicted person may request their conditional liberty or their rehabilitation.

The decision shall be notified to the Public Prosecutor's Office, to the convicted person and to their defense counsel, who may object to the computation within the time limit of three days. The computation shall be deemed approved upon expiration of the time limit without having been objected to or upon the execution judge deciding on the objections raised.

The computation is always revisable, even on its own initiative, when an error is proven or new circumstances render it necessary.

The Public Prosecutor's Office, the convicted person and their defense counsel may raise incidents relating to the execution and extinction of the penalty. The execution judge shall resolve them, after a hearing of the interested parties, unless there is evidence to be taken, in which case he shall open the incident to evidence.

Incidents relating to early liberty and all those in which, due to their importance, the judge deems it necessary, shall be resolved in an oral and public hearing, summoning the witnesses and experts who must report during the debate.

The administration of the facility where the convicted person is serving a penalty involving deprivation of liberty shall forward to the enforcement judge the reports provided for by criminal law, for the relevant purposes.

The incidental proceeding for conditional release and other benefits may be initiated by the convicted person, by defense counsel or on its own initiative, in which case the judge shall require the prison administration to forward the reports provided for by criminal law. When the convicted person initiates it before the administration of the facility, the latter shall immediately forward the request, setting the date on which it will submit the report.

The judge may dismiss the request without further proceedings when it is manifestly inadmissible or when he considers that sufficient time has not elapsed for the conditions that motivated the previous denial to have changed.

When release is granted, the conditions and instructions shall be set in the order, as established by criminal law. The released person, at the time of notification, shall promise to comply with them and shall state how he will comply with them. He shall establish domicile or residence and shall receive a copy of the decision.

The enforcement judge shall also monitor compliance with the conditions imposed, which may be modified on its own initiative or at the request of the convicted person and his defense counsel.

Whenever conditional liberty is not applicable by unification of judgments or penalties, or when during the period of its granting the convicted person commits a new crime or violates the security measures imposed, the revocation proceeding shall be initiated on its own initiative or at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the complainant or the aggrieved party and/or the victim.

If the convicted person cannot be found, his detention shall be ordered. The proceeding shall be carried out when he is found and the judge may order that he be kept in preventive detention until the proceeding is resolved.

The judge shall decide by reasoned order and, where applicable, shall carry out a new computation.

The execution judge shall monitor proper compliance with the penitentiary regime; among other measures, he shall order such inspections of penitentiary establishments as may be necessary and may require convicted persons to appear before him for purposes of supervision and control. To that end, he may delegate the function to inspectors designated for the case.

The judge shall hear the convicted person regarding the problems he will face immediately after regaining his liberty and shall endeavor to address those whose solution is within his reach.

If the convicted person does not pay the penalty of fine imposed upon him, attachment shall be levied upon sufficient property to cover it. If attachment is not possible, the fine shall be converted into imprisonment, the detention of the convicted person being ordered and the form of conversion shall be decided by order, the time being regulated at between one and twenty-five quetzales for each day.

After the final computation has been carried out, the judge shall order the corresponding communications and registrations.

If a penalty of absolute disqualification has been imposed, it shall be communicated, indicating the end date of the sentence, to the electoral authority and to the Directorate of Judicial Statistics for purposes of the register of criminal records.

If the penalty is one of special disqualification, it shall be communicated, indicating the end date of the sentence, to the authority or entity in charge of controlling the exercise of the profession, employment, office or right upon which the disqualification was imposed.

The disqualified person may request their rehabilitation in writing, offering the evidence on which they base their claim. The request shall be processed in the form of an incidental proceeding.

Once rehabilitation has been decided, the corresponding communications shall be made.

The commutation of the deprivation-of-liberty penalty provided for in the judgment shall be set at between five (Q.5.00) and one hundred (Q.100.00) quetzales for each day of imprisonment. Upon receipt of the request for commutation, the judge shall immediately perform the respective computation and, upon prior verification of payment, shall order release.

When criminal law grants extinctive effect on the penalty to the pardon by the offended party, once said pardon has been effected and with the consent of the convicted person before the enforcement judge, the enforcement judge shall order the immediate liberty of the convicted person if applicable.

When the execution judge becomes aware that the imposed penalty, or the conditions of its compliance, must be set aside or modified, due to a more benign law having entered into force, the judge shall promote review of the final judgment before the Supreme Court of Justice.

The rules established in the preceding Chapter govern security and correction measures insofar as they are applicable. In addition, the following provisions shall be observed:

1)In case of incapacity the guardian shall intervene, who shall have the obligation to supervise the execution of the security and correction measure.

2)The execution judge shall determine the appropriate facility for execution of the measure and may modify its decision, even at the request of the guardian or of the management of the facility. The execution judge may consult experts who shall be appointed for that purpose.

3)The execution judge shall set a time limit, not exceeding six months, at the expiration of which the execution judge shall periodically examine the situation of the person subject to a measure; the examination shall be conducted in an oral hearing, behind closed doors, upon prior report from the facility and from experts. The decision shall address the termination or continuation of the measure and, in the latter case, may modify the treatment or change the facility in which it is executed.

4)When the execution judge learns, by reasoned report, that the causes that gave rise to the confinement have disappeared, the execution judge shall immediately convene the hearing provided for in the preceding paragraph.

The civil judgment shall be enforced at the instance of whoever has the right before the tribunals competent in that matter and in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure, except for restitutions ordered in the judgment.