Fuente: http://www.espora.org
On the 18th July, four indigenous prisoners from the Loxicha region were granted early release from prison. Estanislao Martínez Santiago, Ricardo Martínez Enríquez, Cirilo Ambrosio Antonio and Urbano Ruiz Cruz had been imprisoned since 1996, accused of having committed a variety of different crimes of federal order.
The freed indigenous peoples come from a marginalized area, where they are routinely subjected to both violence and repression at the hands of the government, which, on the 25th September 1996 resulted in the detention of 12 individuals. The arrest occurred when, “on the 25th September 1996, the state and federal government implemented an operative in the Loxicha region that resulted in murders, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, torture, forced displacement and grand-scale arbitrary and unjust detentions”, according to organizations that have followed the process, such as the Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño A.C, as well as the Zapatista Collective of Oaxaca and the priest Wilfredo Mayren Pelaez, spokesperson for the prisoners of Loxicha. “We must recognize that 8 political prisoners are still imprisoned, who, on the 25th September, will complete 12 years in jail; 4 of them remain in prison awaiting the resolve of their legal situation, whilst the other 4 will complete sentences of 30 to 34 years, during which time they are being deprived of their freedom.”
For more information (in Spanish), see:
“Liberan en Oaxaca a cuatro presos políticos”, CENCOS (20/07/2009)
“Liberan a 4 presos Loxichas, después de 13 años”, Disidente Radio (19/07/2009)
“Liberan a 4 compañeros de la region Loxicha”, El Enemigo Común (20/07/2009)
More information from SIPAZ:
Oaxaca: people march for the liberation of 12 political prisoners in Loxicha
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