Concern for Lilian Virginia Laparra Rivas' persists as her trial was delayed despite international recognition that her detention violates human rights law.

Haroon Siddique wrote in The Guardian on Virginia Laparra’s struggle for justice and her receiving of the Sir Henry Brooke award. A Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor forced into exile after being pursued by the country’s conservative elite has said that leaving the country was the only way to save her life but was only “a little bit less than death”. Virginia Laparra, 45, spent two years in prison for allegedly abusing her position after she reported her suspicion that a judge had leaked sensitive details from a sealed corruption case to a colleague in 2017.

In a significant acknowledgment of her relentless fight against corruption under perilous conditions, Virginia Laparra Rivas, a former prosecutor in Guatemala, was honoured with the prestigious Sir Henry Brooke Award for 2025. The ceremony, organized by the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk, took place recently, in London, celebrating her exceptional commitment to human rights and the rule of law.