Mexican army moves military rape cases to civilian court

Mexican army moves military rape cases to civilian court

2011-08-18 01:58:25 GMT+7 (ICT)

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- The cases of two indigenous women allegedly raped by Mexican soldiers in 2002 have been transferred by military prosecutors to civilian courts, a human rights group reported on Wednesday.

Amnesty International reported that Mexico's Military Prosecutor's office notified Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú on August 12 that their cases had been transferred to the Attorney General's Office. The decision was made after the prosecutor's office recognized it lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute cases where members of the armed forces are accused of committing human rights violations.

"For us, this is a significant advance, as civil society has constantly fought for these cases to be transferred into the civilian justice system," said Vidulfo Rosales, a human rights lawyer at the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center in Guerrero, which is representing the two women.

"But many limitations remain - we're worried that there's a margin for impunity, for those responsible to be exonerated. The Attorney General's Office has an obligation to begin a criminal investigation immediately, to penalize the soldiers Inés and Valentina have already indicated are responsible."  

For more than nine years, Fernández and Rosendo Cantú have been demanding justice after they were allegedly raped by soldiers in the southern state of Guerrero. Despite a lengthy investigation and Inter-American Court rulings in favor of the two women, however, the attackers remain at large. In addition, the women and their families have faced threats as the legal battle continued.

The decision comes after the country's Supreme Court recently ruled that Mexican soldiers accused of human rights abuses should be tried in civilian courts. This follows an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling last year, ordering Mexico to prosecute human rights violations by the military in the civilian justice system.

Despite this decision, a number of other recent cases of violations by the Mexican military remain under military jurisdiction. Widespread human rights violations have been reported across Mexico as the armed forces fight organized crime, according to the London-based rights group.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes occurred in Mexico in 2010, while more than 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon began his campaign to fight organized crime in December 2006.

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