CNDH Issues Recommendation To Sedena And FGR For Death Of 5 At The Hands Of Military In Nuevo Laredo: Tamaulipas

"Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted from EL Universal 

The Commission accredited that a responsible expert from the FGR is responsible for the analysis and elaboration of the mechanical reports of the victims' injuries.

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued a recommendation to the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) and the Attorney General's Office (FGR) for the death of five people at the hands of Army personnel.

In a communiqué, the agency stated that on May 18, 2023, the five people were intercepted aboard a vehicle by four members of the Sedena in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and were victims of arbitrary deprivation of life through the illegitimate use of firearms.

NUEVO LAREDO. TAMAULIPAS (CARTEL CODE NAME: NECTAR LIMA)

On June 6, 2023, the National Commission learned of newspaper reports that on May 18, 2023, elements of the Mexican Army reported that five armed civilians were killed in a confrontation in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

However, a videotape showed a different sequence of events, which led to the initiation of an ex officio complaint with the objective of investigating possible human rights violations committed by members of the Mexican Army.

With the elements gathered, the CNDH proved that a responsible expert of the FGR, in charge of the analysis and elaboration of the reports of the victims' injuries, concluded that there was a correlation between the facts narrated in the Homologated Police Report, signed by an officer of the Mexican Army, and the injuries described in the documents, and the injuries described in the medical documents, which turned out to be false, and with such action the legal course of the investigation file was hindered and therefore, the access to justice for the direct victims and the indirect victims who are part of their families.

Also, the agency directed by Rosario Piedra Ibarra accredited that the responsible public servants left the victims and their families in a state of defenselessness by not adhering to the constitutional and legal principles that govern their actions, and considers that with their actions they affected society as a whole, since they violated the right to legal security, to personal integrity and security and to life, due to the excessive use of force, since it was observed that the victims were handcuffed and totally subdued and without weapons within their reach.

Likewise, the CNDH was able to conclude that in this case there has been an inadequate administration of justice in the investigation of the crime committed, which has caused the violation of the right to an effective and exhaustive investigation by the ministerial authority, which contributes to impunity.

Therefore, the National Commission requested the Sedena to proceed with the immediate and comprehensive reparation of the damage caused to the five victims and their families, especially to their descendants, and to provide them with the medical, psychological and thanatological care they need, which should be provided by specialized personnel from outside the Sedena, free of charge, on an ongoing basis and taking into account the specific conditions of the indirect victims.

The Sedena must collaborate extensively in the integration of the investigation file underway in the FGR, and in the criminal case being processed in the military jurisdiction, both against the public servants indicated as participants in the facts; and must collaborate extensively in the processing and follow-up of the administrative and military discipline procedure that is initiated before the Internal Control Organ of the Sedena, due to the administrative complaint that the CNDH will formulate.

For its part, the FGR must collaborate in the follow-up of the complaint filed by the CNDH against the official expert mentioned for the actions and omissions in which he incurred within the scope of his responsibility, in order to carry out the investigation, and to initiate the corresponding judicial proceeding so that it may be investigated and sanctioned in accordance with the law.

In addition, it should proceed so that the Internal Control Organ of the Attorney General's Office of the Attorney General's Office may determine the responsibilities and administrative sanctions of the case, and should design and teach a comprehensive course on human rights, directed to the experts working in the offices of the Attorney General's Office in Nuevo Laredo, including the official expert involved, which should be focused on the importance of the elaboration and issuance of injury mechanics as part of the procedures for the integration of investigation files, and which should be effective to avoid the repetition of similar facts.

Source: EL UNIVERSAL