The case of Matias* is a good example of the obstacles we face in supporting the Bolivian public justice system. Matias was 10 years old in 2008 when a 30-year-old man who cut his hair and attended his church invited him to his apartment for tea and then violently sexually assaulted him.
Matias' impoverished family was desperate for justice. His father, Juan, remembers: "I didn't have any money to pay [a lawyer]. . . . But if I didn't go forward with his case, this man was going to continue" abusing children.
My team had the privilege of representing Matias in court. Preparing and getting his case to trial proved to be a tremendous - but, sadly familiar - battle. We had a clear case against his perpetrator, but faced many obstacles of a different sort.
Our first challenge was assmemblign the three "citizen judges" who play the role of a jury. In Bolivia, if a poor person manages to bring charges against the perpetrator of a crime, without an advocate, the justice process often ends here.
Here's why the process is so difficult: Court clerks must summon a dozen people so that three of them can be selected to serve as citizen judges. But these clerks receive no funding for their transportation to summon anyone, so they often can't or don't do their jobs. And many deeply impoverished Bolivians simply cannot miss a day of work to serve their duty even if they are summoned.
Over the course of 2009, the trial was scheduled, then postponed and transferred to another court over and over, as people summoned to serve as citizen judges failed to appear. With each delay, Matias and his parents grew more discouraged - but we urged them to continue with the case, and remained committed to persevere.
Finally, in January 2010, enough of the necessary people appeared - Vania, a member of our legal team, had gone to the courthouse the day before to lend the clerk her cell phone so he could make reminder calls. Three were selected to serve as citizen judges, and, after more than a year of delays, the trial could begin.
But the hurdles did not end - and the stakes grew higher. Our attempts to keep the case moving were thwarted repeatedly, as both citizen judges and the very overburdened government prosecutor - a Bolivian official our team supports in court - failed to appear for hearings.
Even with our determination, the trial stretched on into April, prolonging an already difficult process for Matias and increasing the chances that the entire process could get derailed.
Finally, as we neared the last hearing, the government prosecutor we were working with announced that she planned to reschedule - a decision that meant that the trial would not conclude before the end of the summer. We were dismayed. We prayed; we desperately tried to convince her to move forward.
Finally, with just one day to spare, the prosecutor committed to attend the hearing. After 17 months of advocacy, the trial concluded: The defendant was declared guilty and sentenced to 20 years. Matias had justice.
*The name of this IJM Client has been changed for his security.
This story is one of many that IJM helped write. Go here to learn more.
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