Mexico City | Desinformémonos. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention confirmed the criminalization and arbitrary detention of the five Tseltal defenders from San Juan Cancuc, who since 2022 have been imprisoned in the State Center of Social Reinsertion for Sentenced Persons (CERSS) No. 5, and were sentenced for fabricated crimes to 25 years in prison by the Chiapas State Judiciary.
The sentence against the defenders was issued by a state judge in May 2023, despite the fact that three of the five Tseltales declared that, after their arbitrary detention at the hands of the municipal police of San Juan Cancuc, the National Guard and the army on May 29, 2022, they were handed over to the Office of the Prosecutor for Indigenous Justice, “who first fabricated the crime of drug possession and then involved them in the homicide for which they were sentenced,” as denounced by Frayba in 2023.
The other two indigenous persons sentenced testified that they were arbitrarily detained by members of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection and the Specialized Police on June 1, 2022, outside CERSS No. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, when they were visiting their companions and in retaliation for having been witnesses to the operation and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
In response to the case, the Working Group made up of nine international organizations, such as Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders and Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), sent a letter in which it recognized the five sentenced men as human rights defenders and denounced that “their criminalization is due precisely to their work in defense of the land and territory and the fact that they belong to the Tzeltal ethnic group, discrimination that even extends to their lack of Spanish language skills”.
In the letter addressed to the Mexican authorities, the organizations reiterated that the arrest of Manuel Sántiz Cruz, Agustín Pérez Domínguez, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Agustín Pérez Velasco and Martín Pérez Domínguez was carried out without an arrest warrant and without the detainees being informed of the charges against them. “Nor were they brought before a judge once they were arrested. The arrest warrant was issued a posteriori, but before the Prosecutor’s Office requested it, which would evidence the partiality of the Judge in the development of the criminal process”, they added.
They added that the evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office in the two trials against the defenders “show inconsistencies”, among them the lack of data on the location of the victim during a key period, the omission of the first responder protocol, deficiencies in the determination of the cause of death, contradictions between the necropsy and the expert opinions, absence of formal identification of the deceased, experts without professional credentials and medical conclusions that do not correspond with the content of the opinion. “In addition, the injuries described do not coincide between the different reports or with the corpse,” they emphasized.
In light of the irregularities, the Working Group demanded that the Mexican government immediately release the five Tseltal defenders and grant them the effective right to obtain compensation and other types of reparations in accordance with international law, as well as “exhaustively and independently” investigate the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of the five individuals and adopt the appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of their rights.
The full letter follows:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are writing to you in order to express our concern about the situation of the five criminalized Tzeltal defenders Manuel Santiz Cruz, Agustín, Pérez Domínguez, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Martín Pérez Domínguez and Agustín Pérez Velasco, arbitrarily detained in 2022 and since then imprisoned in the State Center of Social Reinsertion for Sentenced Persons (CERSS) No. 5, in light of the recent publication of the opinion issued on April 4, 2025 by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions on their case. _
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention conducted a visit to Mexico and the State of Chiapas in September 2023, and after receiving information on the case from different sources, transmitted its allegations to the Government of Mexico on July 22, 2024. The Government’s response was received on October 18, 2024. On April 4, 2025, the Working Group issued an opinion highlighting a series of deliberations concerning the human rights violations committed against the five detainees in the context of both their arrest and judicial proceedings:
- The arrest of the five was carried out without an arrest warrant and without the detainees being informed of the charges against them. Nor were they brought before a judge once they were arrested. The arrest warrant was issued after the fact, but before the Prosecutor’s Office requested it, which would evidence the Judge’s partiality in the development of the criminal process.
- There were no reasons for the application of unofficial pretrial detention, revealing the arbitrary application of a mechanism that should be the exception and not the norm.
- Manuel Sántiz Cruz, Agustín Pérez Domínguez and Juan Velasco Aguilar were subjected to forced disappearance during the 24 hours following their detention.
- The detainees did not have access to a Spanish-Tzeltal interpreter either at the time of their detention or during their judicial proceedings until the hearings were reinstated.
- The evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office in the two trials shows inconsistencies such as the lack of data on the location of the victim during a key period, the omission of the first responder protocol, deficiencies in the determination of the cause of death, contradictions between the autopsy and the expert opinions, absence of formal identification of the deceased, experts without professional credentials and medical conclusions that do not correspond with the content of the opinion. In addition, the injuries described do not coincide between the different reports or with the corpse.
In addition, the Working Group recognizes the five sentenced persons as human rights defenders, and considers that their criminalization is due precisely to their work in defense of land and territory and the fact that they belong to the Tzeltal ethnic group, discrimination that extends even to their lack of fluency in Spanish.
Consequently, it requests that:
- The Government of Mexico immediately release Manuel Sántiz Cruz, Agustín Pérez Domínguez, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Martín Pérez Domínguez and Agustín Pérez Velasco and grant them the effective right to obtain compensation and other types of reparation, in accordance with international law.
- The Government of Mexico conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of the five individuals and take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of their rights.
There is a binding framework to which the Mexican State must adhere since, as an active member of the United Nations since 1945, it has assumed clear commitments on human rights, which include respect for and attention to international mechanisms. In particular, in view of the opinions of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Mexican State is legally and politically committed to take its opinions into account and act accordingly. This is based on Resolution 30/30, which requests States to seriously consider the opinions of the Working Group, to take the necessary measures to correct the situations denounced and to report on the actions taken. It is also based on the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration, which establishes that it is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior – through its competent bodies – to monitor compliance with human rights and to follow up on the recommendations issued by international bodies. This is demonstrated in the RA (P) 298/2022 judgment of the First Collegiate Tribunal in Criminal and Administrative Matters of the Eighteenth Circuit of the State of Morelos, which resolves the failure of the authorities to provide comprehensive reparation measures in favor of the plaintiff.
It should be noted that the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples issued a joint communication on October 9, 2024 in which they called the attention of the Mexican Government to the alleged arbitrary detention, improper use of criminal law and disproportionate sentencing of several human rights defenders, including Agustín Pérez Velasco, Martín Pérez Domínguez, Juan Velasco Aguilar and Agustín Pérez Domínguez. It reminds the Mexican State of its international obligations and requests information regarding the cases that are the subject of the communication. In the State’s response to the communication, the case of the defenders of San Juan Cancúc has not been addressed.
We also wish to express our concern for the human rights violations that the Swedish Movement for Reconciliation SweFOR has been able to observe in its work of accompaniment and documentation, both in the context of the detention as well as in the hearings and in its visits to the prison. SweFOR was present during the detention of Agustín Pérez Velasco and Martín Pérez Domínguez, and was able to witness the disproportionate use of force and the intimidating attitude of the agents, who denied the detainees and their lawyers the opportunity to see the arrest warrant, to know the reasons for the arrest and to know their rights as detainees. During the first court hearings, he observed the discriminatory treatment by the court towards the Tzeltal people present at the trial, as well as their openly threatening and intimidating treatment of the defense attorneys. At the same time, the judicial process has been systematically obstructed, which has manifested itself in constant cancellations of hearings or in the denial of access to international observers and the press.
It is also noteworthy the impact that SweFOR has been able to contemplate on the five defenders throughout their visits to the prison: the situation of criminalization and the prison living conditions have led to medical conditions that have not been addressed by the prison authorities, while changes in the visiting protocols have greatly restricted the possibilities of the families to accompany them, with the psychological impact that this entails. Some of these concerns have been raised in several letters sent to the authorities on previous occasions.
We call on the authorities of the Mexican State and the State of Chiapas :
To comply with the opinion issued by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, and which translates into the immediate release of Manuel Sántiz Cruz, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Augustín Pérez Domínguez, Agustín Pérez Velasco and Martín Pérez Domínguez; the investigation of the authorities responsible for their criminalization, and full reparation for all damages caused.
To comply with its international obligations regarding the protection and guarantee of the human rights of indigenous peoples and human rights defenders, as well as the covenants to which Mexico is a signatory, particularly Resolution 30/30 of 2016, approved by the UN General Assembly.
To guarantee the non-repetition of arbitrary deprivation of liberty of human rights defenders, as well as other criminalization strategies.
To the diplomatic representations and the international community, we call on them:
To call for the Mexican State to comply with the opinion of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and immediately release Manuel Sántiz Cruz, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Augustín Pérez Domínguez, Agustín Pérez Velasco and Martín Pérez Domínguez; to investigate the authorities responsible for their criminalization, and to make full reparation for all damages caused.
To make a public pronouncement on the opinion of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions regarding the case of the five detainees of San Juan Cancuc, and to urge the state and federal authorities to release them immediately, to investigate the authorities responsible for their criminalization, and to make full reparations for all damages caused.
To urge the Mexican State to comply with its international obligations regarding the protection and guarantee of the human rights of indigenous peoples, human rights defenders and guarantees of due process.
In the hope that this letter will be of interest to you and motivate your action, we thank you in advance for your attention and remain attentive to the responses to this letter.
Amnesty International | Asociación por la Paz y los Derechos Humanos Taula per Mèxic | International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders | Front Line Defenders | Swedish Movement for Reconciliation – SweFOR – |
World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders |
International Service for Peace, SIPAZ | The Indigenous Peoples Rights International
Original text published by Desinformemonos on July 25th, 2025.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.