Judge Iris Yassmín Barrios Aguilar was appointed to a judgeship in 1996 when she passed the first opposition exam for sentencing judges. She began her career as judge within the Third Tribunal on Criminal Sentencing, Drug Trafficking, and Crimes Against the Environment, and currently she presides over the High-Risk Tribunal A, of which she has been a member for the last 13 years. 

During her time as judge, she has tried several very important cases, such as the case involving the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi; her involvement resulted in an attack on her home by a fragmentation grenade. She also tried the Dos Erres case, in which 251 people were killed during the internal armed conflict; the genocide case in which Efraín Ríos Montt was convicted; the case involving the sexual slavery of 15 women in Sepur Zarco; the case of the Salvadoran representatives to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) who were killed on Guatemalan territory; the Zetas case; and, recently, the case of the Achi women who suffered sexual violence and domestic slavery in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz; among others. 

When she began working as a judge, there were few women in the justice system; however, now there are more women innovating the justice system in Guatemala.

“I have always thought that we as judges should be leaders within the community, within the social context and environment in which we move, and that in our line of work, though judicial resolutions we can help solve problems in the legal, economic, and also social arenas,” she emphasizes.

The judge stresses that the country is currently in a social, economic, and political crisis, and that the judicial system is also undergoing difficulties, which makes it important to work to strengthen it and to reach the values that were once held. She believes that whenever a verdict is issued that is attuned to rights and that respects constitutional guarantees, the justice system and the democracy of the people are strengthened.

“We have to take care of democracy as if it were a plant, so that it continues to grow, blossom, and develop in the best way. We cannot neglect it, because if we do, then chaos, insecurity, and violence will ensue,” she remarks.