Oaxaca: 16 months after the imprisonment of Damián Gallardo, and following call from the UN, there is no response from the Mexican State

Photo @ Front Line Defenders

The Committee of Relatives and Friends of Damián Gallardo, the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH-Oaxaca), Services for an Alternative Education (EDUCA), Consorcio for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca, the New Woman Collective, and the Oaxaca Citizens’ Initiative denounced that 16 months after the incarceration of teacher Damián Gallardo Martínez, who has been accused of participating in the kidnapping of children, the Mexican State has provided no response to the calls from the international community and the UN regarding the human-rights violations experienced during his imprisonment.  In a press-conference, Idolina Gallardo Martínez, Damián’s sister, said that 6 months after UN institutions called on the Mexican government to provide evidence for the charges on which the teacher has been incarcerated, “there is silence from the authorities in question.”

Beyond this, the representative of LIMEDDH-Oaxaca mentioned that international organizations like Front Line Defenders and the Observatory for the Protection of Human-Rights Defenders have published urgent actions to manifest their concern for the well-being of Gallardo Martínez and to call on the Mexican State to release him immediately, in accordance with its international obligations to protect human rights and carry out an expeditious investigation regarding the acts that have been denounced.

For more information (in Spanish):

Estado mexicano no ha respondido a ONU por caso Damián Gallardo (Noticias Net, 6 de octubre de 2014)

Exigen familiares de Damián Gallardo respuesta a exigencias (Tiempo en Línea, 5 de octubre de 2014)

Comunicado Caso Damián Gallardo (Ciudadanía Express, 5 de octubre de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca/National: Assault on teacher Damián Gallardo in a prison of Jalisco (13 June 2014)