The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Secretary of the Interior, Fernando Gomez Mont, to provide information on violations of human rights which are attributed to the military and have been prosecuted by military courts.
In a letter sent yesterday to the official, the group requested copies of arrest warrants, detention orders, court records and judgments in such cases.
Under the Universal Periodic Review which was submitted to Mexico last month by the Human Rights Council of the UN, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) reported that the Mexican military is currently processing six cases which are in their preliminary phase, and it was recorded that in three cases 32 members of the Army were appropriated. It was also revealed that there are currently nine judgments recorded against 14 elements of the institution.
“Until that presentation, the Mexican government had failed to provide even one example of a criminal conviction rendered by military courts in the last 10 years against military personnel accused of committing human rights violations against civilians,” HRW noted in its letter.
Garduno, Silvia. “Exigen datos de fuero militar” Reforma July 9, 2009.