Relatives, human rights defenders and organizations, as well as the legal representation of five Tzeltal political prisoners from the municipality of San Juan Cancuc, in the highlands of Chiapas, announced the filing of an injunction to annul the conviction that has kept them in prison for more than two years and four months.
Accused of the murder of a municipal policeman in 2022, the five Tzeltal people, as well as the accompanying organizations, demand their immediate release because, they argue, there is no convincing evidence to keep them in prison.
They are the indigenous Tzeltal people Agustín Pérez Domínguez, Agustín Pérez Velasco, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Martín Pérez Domínguez and Manuel Sántiz Cruz. Although they were initially sentenced to 25 years in prison, on appeal, the Chiapas Judicial Power reduced the sentence to 18 years. However, according to the legal defense of the Tzeltales, the demand is for their immediate release.
This was announced by attorney Adrian Reyes, who, through a press conference held last Thursday (22), reported that since the first days of August, he presented before the Federal Judiciary a direct appeal -a legal recourse to proceed against sentences or resolutions that put an end to a trial- through which he seeks to obtain the immediate release of the five Tzeltal political prisoners.
Reyes explained that the lawsuit is currently in the stage of notifying third parties, among them the Chiapas Prosecutor’s Office, so that they may express their opinion regarding the legal recourse presented on August 6.
“It will be the federal authority – in reference to the Collegiate Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice – who will have to resolve and analyze each of the situations presented in the direct appeal, but it will also have to ensure that the investigations and each of the elements of conviction for which they were sentenced, and which in our opinion are not sufficient to demonstrate the responsibility of the persons detained, can be released”, explained the litigant in a press conference held in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Attorney Reyes emphasized that the punishment is not only the deprivation of liberty of the five Tzeltal, but also the hardships of their families as they work to demand justice, as well as the risk to the physical integrity of the prisoners, who in recent months denounced a series of abuses within the State Center for Social Reinsertion of Sentenced Persons (CERSS) no. 5, where they are being held.
For the legal defense counsel, the use of the amparo lawsuit at the federal level is sustained due to the actions of the Judicial Power of Chiapas. The lawyer points out that, from the beginning, the Prosecutor’s Office presupposed the guilt of the accused, for which reason it did not carry out an adequate investigation to prove their participation in the acts, nor did it provide evidence to sentence the prisoners.
According to Reyes, there is a great distrust for the actions of the State institutions as he points out that they are wrongly penalizing and maintains that “they have fabricated a series of criminal behaviors that far from contributing to justice, violates those most in need.”
Criminalization of defenders
The press conference was also attended by human rights defenders from the Parish of San Juan Cancuc, as well as Petrona Hernández Pérez, wife of Agustín Pérez Domínguez, who read a communiqué signed by the political prisoners in which they emphasize that the crime for which they are accused has been fabricated by the Chiapas Indigenous Justice Prosecutor’s Office.
“They fabricated criminal charges against them for defending the land,” accused the defenders and explained that among the various projects that threaten the Tzeltal communities of the Highlands of Chiapas is the Highway of Cultures project, which has been promoted for a decade by the state governments and currently aims to connect the Chiapas coast with the Mayan Train in Palenque.
“That is why they were imprisoned, and sometimes as promoters, they also want to threaten us, to imprison us because we are defenders of the land and the territory,” said the Tzeltal human rights promoters.
The parish priest of San Juan Cancuc, José Luis Vargas, who has accompanied the actions for the freedom of the five political prisoners, assured that “the jails are full of innocent people because of this corrupt system we have in Mexico and there is no justice.” Although he also indicated that they will maintain the struggle together with the families and organizations to achieve the freedom of the indigenous Tzeltal people.
Original text by Aldo Santiago published in Avispa Midia on August 26th, 2024.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.