In an Urgent Action on May 4, the Human Rights Center Fray Bartlomé de las Casas (CDHFBC) denounced the legal situation of the eight indigenous tzeltales from the Ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón. The lack of due process in all of the cases has been well documented by the CDHFBC. A major concern for their future trial is the fact that all eight have signed confessions, however without knowing the content because of the lack of a translator. Although the law prohibits such declarations of guilt, they were accepted by the Public Prosecutor’s office.
The CDHFBC called attention to the fact that “the Judge in the case has until Friday, May 8 to indict them or free them”. They stated that the trial could form part of the repression that “the government of Juan José Sabines Guerrero has begun, initially by way of the Special Unit on Organized Crime (FECDO), against the members of the Other Campaign of San Sebastián Bachajón and the Zapatista support base of the region of Agua Azul and Agua Clara”.
For More Information (In Spanish):
En condiciones inhumanas, 8 tzeltales esperan sentencia en penal de Chiapas, La Jornada (5/5/2009)
