The defense lawyer Alejandro Arriaza attacked this Friday, May 8, against the investigation of the Public Ministry (MP) in the case of the kidnapped dentist, Julio Amílcar Martínez Murillo, and assured the judge that the accusation presents inconsistencies, gaps and errors.
During the hearing, Arriaza maintained that the Anti-Kidnapping Prosecutor’s Office failed to prove the participation of his client, Paola Isabel Díaz Ramírez de Tzul, wife of Juan Oswaldo Tzul Hernández, one of those involved in the case.
“It has become evident, Mr. Judge, in this courtroom, the non-participation of my client,” he stated.
According to the MP’s investigation, Martínez Murillo was kidnapped on May 28, 2025 when he was going to his clinic in El Jocotillo, Villa Canales. The Prosecutor’s Office names Alejandro Girón Castañeda, a close friend of the dentist for more than a decade, as the alleged mastermind.
The structure indicated by the investigating entity also includes Ubaldo Tzul Castillo; to his son, Juan Oswaldo Tzul Hernández; to Paola Isabel Díaz Ramírez de Tzul, his wife; and Carlos Antonio González y González, identified as the alleged rescue negotiator.
However, Arriaza questioned the way in which the Prosecutor’s Office constructed the accusation and pointed out that the document does not establish a clear relationship of the facts.
“From what rescue? From the story he told previously? There is no clear, precise or circumstantial relationship there,” he said.
The lawyer insisted that the MP did not prove “control of the fact,” a legal figure that he considered essential to link his client to the kidnapping.
Arriaza also criticized the actions of the National Civil Police (PNC) during the delivery of the ransom. According to him, the investigators followed up on the money, observed who received it and even located the property to which it was taken, but they did not make immediate arrests or recover the cash.
“What happened to that money? Why don’t they raid, inspect and search that house that morning?” he questioned.
Arriaza assured that the investigation was deficient and even “manipulated.”
“A police officer told my client: ‘Do you know what happened? You ruined our investigation,'” he said.
The defender also criticized the wording of the tax accusation and stated that the document lacks legal coherence.
“That accusation does not contain commas or periods. It is a run,” he said.
The lawyer asked the judge to order the dismissal in favor of his client considering that there are not enough elements to send her to trial.
“If you do not authorize the dismissal, which is what proceeds in this case because there is no principle of congruence and there is no control of the fact,” said the lawyer.
The lawyers of Juan Ubaldo Tzul and Juan Oswaldo Tzul also argued that there are deficiencies in the MP’s investigation and asked the judge to acquit them.
While the hearings continue and the lawyers of the other two defendants are pending to present their arguments in the High Risk Court B, the whereabouts of Julio Amílcar Martínez Murillo remains unknown.
What happened to Julio Amílcar Martínez?
Julio Amílcar Martínez Murillo disappeared on May 28, 2025. Before arriving at his clinic, he stopped at a shopping center to buy breakfast, a moment that was recorded on video surveillance cameras. According to the MP’s investigation, three vehicles followed him from that moment.
The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that, after kilometer 38, on a desolate stretch towards El Jocotillo, the dentist was intercepted. At that moment he was having a phone call with his secretary in Agua Blanca, Jutiapa.
During the conversation, Martínez Murillo asked that a vehicle that was blocking the path be moved and, seconds later, a man was heard ordering him to continue driving. The communication ended abruptly.
According to the prosecution, the kidnappers demanded Q5 million in exchange for releasing the dentist. Part of the evidence includes telephone calls, follow-ups and intercepted audios.
One of these audios contains the conversation between Martínez Murillo and his wife during the kidnapping, in which the dentist begs him to get the money to save his life.
“Get it, my life, get it. Tell your neighbor or your brother-in-law, everyone. I’m going to pay that money one way or another,” Martínez Murillo said in the recording presented by the MP.