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Autodefensas imprisoned in Francisco J. Mujica Prison |
By: Laura Castellanos | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat
They are accused for the illegal possession of arms for the exclusive use by the Mexican Army.
Likewise, the judge refused to release 30 more autodefensas arrested on May 9, 2014.
Ignacio Mendoza, the lawyer for hundreds of autodefensas, says that the judge acted “cowardly and narrow” because he resorted to the same legal argument that allowed the freedom of Cemeí Verdia, who was accused for the same offense, and released on July 28.
The litigant asserts that the argument allowed the release of José Manuel Farfán, an autodefensa from the municipality of Turicato on February 2015.
The lawyer of Mireles and Verdía, the latter still imprisoned for the crime of murder, states that the release was achieved in the case because “they cannot enforce gun laws in Michoacán in that time period because of the rule of law was broken for civilians and authorities.”
“And if this judge is proceeding in this way with 100 autodefensas, then he should also proceed the same way against the 7,000 autodefensas who are armed and against the officials who legalized them, they allowed them to use weapons, they converted them into Fuerza Rurales, and they used them.”
The lawyer gave the news to the 100 autodefensas who are detained in the prisons Francisco J. Mujica and David Franco Rodríguez, also known as “El Mil Cumbres”.
Ignacio Mendoza says that they will appeal the judge’s decision. Meanwhile, the autodefensas involved received the news with dismay, but said that they will continue to demand their release.
Anibal Barajas, a civil guard detained in La Mira, assures: “I am ready to continue with the lawyer and of course I want to appeal, we have fallen spirits, but we must continue.”
Eleazar Rubio, for his part stated: “We ask the new governor, Silvano Aureoles, for his intervention, because we did all the work and we gave him our electoral support and how he turns his back on us. We are here because we fight for the wellbeing of our families.”
Source: Proceso