A Mexican federal court decided, this Thursday, May 9, to change the precautionary measure of imprisonment for eight soldiers accused in the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapawith which they will now be able follow your process a freedomreported the victims’ lawyer.
The military, prosecuted for forced disappearance and organized crime, They had been released at the beginning of the year although, a little later, they were arrested again. Now, after a month of hearings, the court handling their case has once again determined that they will be able to continue the process outside of jail if they pay bail and appear periodically in court, explained Santiago Aguirre, director of the Prodh Center, which represents to the parents of the missing young people.
Although the precautionary measures of those accused in criminal proceedings may change throughout the trial, the judicial ups and downs that have occurred with these soldiers are questioned by the victims about the way in which the investigation is being developed.
As indicated by the Prodh Center on its social networks, this latest decision shows the “partial and biased” criteria of a court and how “unchecked military power” is complicating access to justice and the clarification of the case, because, as they alleged , the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) is litigating on behalf of the military involved and refuses to hand over documents that could help the investigation.
Almost ten years after the disappearance, on September 26, 2014, in the city of Iguala, Guerrero, the fate of the students of the Ayotzinapa rural normal school, although charred remains of three of them were found. Authorities believe that they were all murdered by members of a cartel that trafficked heroin and that acted in collusion with security forces and local, state and federal authorities, including military personnel.
The participation of the armed forces was mentioned by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic, as well as by the Truth Commission created at the beginning of the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and by the experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which They investigated the case for eight years. However, it is not clear how far his actions went in what this government described as a “state crime”.
AMLO, who has multiplied the power of the military during his administration, has referred to a handful of elements.
International experts and victims’ lawyers say there is much evidence that The participation of the military was much greater than that recognized by the authorities and they criticize that the Army continues to hide some 800 intelligence documents that could contain key data to clarify the facts.
There are dozens of detainees in this case. Former Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam He is the highest-ranking suspect and is accused of obstruction of justice, torture and forced disappearance. His lawyers got a judge to grant him the benefit of house arrest in April due to his health and being over 75 years old.
As the current administration is about to end, which began in December 2018 and will end in September, the relationship between President López Obrador and the parents of the students has become very tense. The relatives of the victims feel betrayed by the president, who promised them to find out the whole truth about the missing young people and the case is still unclosed.
