Oaxaca: Demands made for reparation of harm caused by torture and by arbitrary privation of freedom

Press conference – source LIMEDDH

In a press conference held on the 5th August, the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights–Oaxacan subsidiary (LIMEDDH), alongside the Magisterial Commission of Human Rights (COMADDH) of Section 22 of the Mexican National Education Workers Union (SNTE), and the Committee of Family and Friends of the Disappeared, Killed, and Imprisoned People of Oaxaca (COFADAPPO), presented their stance with respect to the report submitted by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) regarding Human Rights violations committed during the social conflict in Oaxaca, covering the period from May 2006 up to July 2007. They also announced that this year, 63 people who were detained on the 25^th November 2006 have demanded, through LIMEDDH, that state authorities repair the moral damage cause by torture and arbitrary privation of freedom.

According to the press bulletin issued by LIMEDDH on the 5^th August, “serious violations within the constitutional framework of individual safety and human rights have not been investigated and remain in the dark, following the conclusion reached by the preliminary investigation report (…) of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in regards to the social political conflict of 2006 (…) in the area of Oaxaca. Arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and violations of the principle of right to a just process are a few of the Human Rights violations committed by the state and federal authorities”. LIMEDDH emphasized the importance of the work carried out by non-governmental organizations in regards to Human Rights in light of the existing climate of impunity. Furthermore, LIMEDDH also called attention to the fact that there exist various public reports carried out by international human rights organizations that contrast with the report submitted by the SCJN and that give evidence of the serious violations committed during the conflict.

In addition, LIMEDDH announced that, so far this year (2009), 63 people who were detained on the 25^th November 2006 and who have been victims of Human Rights violations have demanded that state authorities repair the moral damage cause by torture and arbitrary privation of freedom, the total amount reaching 58,400,000.00 $ (Pesos Mexicanos), 940,000.00 $ for each victim. LIMEDDH stressed that “it is not a case of putting a price on personal freedom or on physical or psychological integrity and wellbeing, yet of restoring the right that the victims have to be compensated by the perpetrator, the Mexican State; furthermore, it represents the public shame that the State Government of Oaxaca should express, independently and without undermining legal and administrative responsibility, in the crimes committed by public responsible officials.” LIMEDDH also called upon state and federal authorities to abstain from any type of harassment against Human Rights defenders, victims and family members; on the contrary, it was stressed that all national institutional routes of obtaining justice will be considered closed and that they will turn to international Human Rights courts to denounce this if need be.

For More Information (in Spanish):

• Boletín de prensa de la LIMEDDH

• La Jornada: Physicians for Human Rights cuestiona dictamen forense (06/08/09)

• La Jornada: Descalifica la CNDH reporte de la PGR sobre el asesinato de Brad Will (07/08/09)

More information from SIPAZ:

• THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SITUATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN OAXACA (August 2007)