On Wednesday morning, the judge of the first criminal court of Morelia, Arnulfo Torres Delgado, issued a formal indictment against the former leader of the autodefensas of Aquila, Michoacán, Semeí Verdía Zepeda, in regards to his charges of the crime of first degree murder.
After the end of the duplicity of the constitutional deadline requested by the defense, the judge stated that there is sufficient evidence to continue the process at every stage to allegedly prove that the crime of first degree murder actually occurred.
Although he said that he has not yet been notified, the autodefensa leader of Santa María de Ostula spoke exclusively with W Radio:
“Just to tell you that this is all political, they already announced this to me, they had already told me that this would happen and I was already ready for this; and well the truth is that it is unfortunate how the courts work and yes, there is a direct line from the high command of the government,” he explained.
He also questioned that in recent days, he has been persuaded by high level officials from the Government of Michoacán and this is what he said:
“People from the government have been talking to me, they have been coming closer and saying that they want to talk and what not and then to negotiate, but I don’t know what they will negotiate me with, I don’t have anything to sell. Look, I’m withholding today but in three or four days, I will make it known, but yes, they are high level government officials,” Semeí said.
Semeí also reiterated that once he is out of prison, he will release the videos in which high level officials from the federal forces are shown to be in collusion with the criminal group, Los Caballeros Templarios.
Despite everything that he has faced, Verdía emphatically said that all is not lost.
It is clear that as the new government enters, we will start working differently; it’s going to take a while, I’m not saying that one of these days I’ll get out but I can almost assure you that once we enter into October, we will be leaving here.”
According to the ruling, once the legal situation is resolved, the inquiry will be returned to the lower court for further proceedings. Since the crime is considered serious by law, Semeí Verdía cannot face a release process.
Source: W Radio