|
| |
Mexico's Decision to Free Environmental Activists Hailed
|
(Washington, November 8, 2001)
Human Rights Watch today applauded the decision of President Vicente Fox to free environmental activists, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera García.
"By freeing these two men, President Fox is sending an important message that his government will not tolerate egregious violations within Mexico's criminal justice system."
José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.
|
|
Montiel and Cabrera were jailed for drug and weapons crimes in 1999 after protesting the ecological damage being inflicted in their home state of Guerrero. In July 2000, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission concluded that Montiel and Cabrera had been illegally detained and apparently tortured by soldiers, who fabricated evidence that was used to convict them. In July 2001, a federal court upheld their conviction.
"By freeing these two men, President Fox is sending an important message that his government will not tolerate egregious violations within Mexico's criminal justice system," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch.
The president's decision comes three weeks after the brutal killing of Digna Ochoa who, as a lawyer for Montiel and Cabrera, had pressed the government to investigate the army personnel implicated in abuses against the two men. Ochoa was found dead in her Mexico City office on October 19. She had been shot in the head and leg. A note left by her side warned other human rights advocates that the same would happen to them if they continued with their work.
"It is important that the Fox does not stop here," Vivanco said. "He should now take steps to address the underlying problems in Mexico's justice system that allowed for these environmentalists' unjust jailing."
|
|
