UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issues statement against Mexico

San Jose, February 14, 2014. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention informed the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) that it issued an official opinion in which it considers the almost 16 year imprisonment of the indigenous Mexicans, Juan García Cruz and Santiago Sánchez Silvestre, as arbitrary detention and contrary to the international obligations of the State of Mexico.

In 1997, García Cruz and Sánchez were detained and accused of pertaining to the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) as well as having participated in an attack against the police. The only evidence to link them to the crimes was their confessions obtained during torture. Nevertheless, both persons remained deprived of their liberty until April 18, 2013.

The Working Group considered that the initial detention of Mr. García Cruz and Mr. Sánchez Silvestre (by the police and the Public Prosecutor) was arbitrary for not having a justified legal basis. Likewise, the Working Group determined that the imprisonment from June 11, 1997 to April 18, 2013, was arbitrary for not observing the international norms of due process.

The Working Group’s decision was taken as a result of the information presented by Legal Services, Legal Information and Studies (Información y Estudios Jurídicos, SLIEJ), and CEJIL in November 2011. The group highlighted that the Mexican government did not respond to their requests for information.

The Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IA Court) was recently familiarized with Mr. García Cruz and Mr. Sánchez Silvestre’s case, approving an agreement for a friendly settlement and issuing its judgment on November 26, 2013. In the agreement, the Mexican state accepted its international responsibility for the human rights violations suffered by the victims and committed itself to adequately repair the damages as well as prevent similar situations from repeating.

“We celebrate the Working Group’s recommendations and have faith that the Mexican authorities will comply with them, as well as with the promises they made by signing the friendly settlement agreement before the Inter-American Court. It is particularly necessary that the Mexican State reviews the evidentiary value that is given to confessions made before the Public Prosecutor and that the Supreme Court of Justice reverses its doctrine of procedural immediacy that gives priority to the first declarations made by the defendants, even though, as in this case, the confessions were obtained through torture,” noted Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director of CEJIL.

CEJIL press release: Indigenous Mexicans are released after 17 years of unjust imprisonment (Spanish only)

CEJIL press release: Mexico acknowledges international responsibility for the 15 year arbitrary imprisonment of two people

IA Court judgment: IA Court HR. Case García Cruz and Sánchez Silvestre V. Mexico. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 26, 2013. Series C No. 273 (Spanish Only)

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