Chiapas: new Urgent Action regarding the eight indigenous tzeltales detained in El Amate

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):

Acción Urgente: Riesgo que el juez de la causa dicte auto de formal prisión ante de la detención arbitraria, de ocho indígenas tseltales de la región de Agua Azul, CDHFBC (4/5/2009)

Acción Urgente: Temor de ausencia de garantías judiciales/Alegaciones de malos tratos/Preocupación por malos tratos/Preocupación por seguridad e integridad personal, OMCT (6/5/2009)

En condiciones inhumanas, 8 tzeltales esperan sentencia en penal de Chiapas, La Jornada (5/5/2009)

Abogado de indígenas consignados en el penal El Amate denuncia ‘falta de ética’  en el caso, La Jornada (6/5/2009)