On Wednesday 4 August, the case of Alberto Patishtán Gómez, held in prison no. 5 of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and member of the Voz de Amate (Voice of Amate) as well as adherent to the Other Campaign of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), was taken to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). During this audience, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human-Rights Center (CDHFBC) denounced the Mexican State “for its direct responsibility in violating the due process and personal liberty” of Patishtán Gómez. According to the CDHFBC, the case of Patishtán Gómez, who has now been imprisoned for over 10 years, carries with it a life-sentence for crimes he did not commit. A principal challenge in the case is that it pertains to federal crimes. Indeed, asserts La Jornada, Juan Sabines Guerrero, present governor of the state of Chiapas, “has committed himself repeatedly to intervene so that [Patishtán Gómez] recover his freedom.”
La Voz de Amate, a social organization founded by prisoners with which Patishtán Gómez has been involved for several years, today “continues to be alive and in struggle,” explain La Jornada. On Monday 2 August the organization denounced violations of the human rights of prisoners and their relatives as well as mistreatment of the latter. The denunciations are directed principally against the director of Prison No. 5, Víctor Manuel Palacios Torres, who, according to members of Voz de Amate, “as always dresses himself in sheep’s clothes, although he is in fact quite different.” The communiqué relates that “all visits” were denied, in a similar fashion to that which occurred with members of civil human-rights organizations who came to visit Patishtán Gómez last week. In their Monday communiqué, the members of Voz de Amate plead “urgently” that Sabines Guerrero remove Palacios Torres from power.
For more information (in Spanish):
The case of Alberto Patishtán is taken before the IACHR (La Jornada, 4 August)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: visit to Alberto Patishtán to observe 2011 call for “jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum” Honor denied (2 August 2010)
Chiapas: prisoner Alberto Patishtán Gómez’s latest communiqué and its coverage by La Jornada (19 July 2010)
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