Guatemala judge orders house arrest for jailed Russian man

A court in Guatemala ruled today that a Russian man accused of buying and using false documents to obtain residency should be transferred from prison to house arrest.

Judge Ericka Aifan's decision came after Igor Bitkov's defence argued that he suffers from unspecified health problems. She found that he does not represent a flight risk and ordered him to check in with authorities every week to confirm his continued presence in the country.

Bitkov, wife Irina and daughter Anastasia were detained in 2015 in a case involving a criminal network operating in Guatemala's immigration agency and national registry of persons.

They allege they are the victims of political persecution pushed by Russia, but have not presented evidence of that. Aifan's ruling does not grant house arrest to the wife and daughter, whom the defence had also hoped to get released.

A total of 39 people including alleged members and customers of the network were convicted in the case.

In a long legal process with plenty of twists, the Constitutional Court overturned Igor Bitkov's conviction, then Aifan ordered a new trial and then that was thrown out by an appeals court.

The family's case caught the attention of Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who recently placed a hold on USD 6 million in US funding for a UN-sponsored commission that is investigating corruption in Guatemala and had pressed the probe against the Bitkovs.

Rubio questioned whether the commission may have been manipulated by a Moscow-led campaign against the family.

Commission chief Ivan Velasquez says criticism over the Bitkovs' case has sought to discredit the commission's work, which has led to the prosecution of a number of power Guatemalans including former President Otto Perez Molina.