MEX 170807/ MEX 170807.VAW
URGENT CAMPAIGNS/ VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Temporary arbitrary detention/ Allegations of torture and ill-treatment including sexual abuse/ Fear for personal integrity
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Mexico.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Limeddh), member organisation of the SOS-Torture network, of the alleged arbitrary detention of four Spanish citizens, accompanied by a Mexican citizen, in the city of Oaxaca, by members of the federal police, as well as allegations of ill-treatment, including sexual abuse, and threats of deportation of the Spanish citizens from the territory.
According to the information, on 5 August 2007 around 9:30 p.m., four individuals of Spanish nationality, namely Mrs. Nuria Morello Calafell, Mrs. Ariadna Nieto Espine, Mr. Ramon Sesen Marquina, and Mrs. Laia Serra Perello, lawyer and member of the International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights (Comision Civil Internacional de Observacion por los Derechos Humanos, CCIODH), (an NGO which had visited Oaxaca last December and drafted a report on the violations committed by the State during last year’s teachers dispute,) were arrested while they were walking in the street named Independencia in the city of Oaxaca by parapolice elements, some of them having arms of high calibre and dressed in dark blue uniforms. Members of the antiballistic protection section of the police (miembros de proteccionantibalistica), dressed in plainclothes and conducting white Nissan pick-ups, were also present and two of them gave the orders.
Mr. Jose Damian Resendiz Saucedo, a Mexican citizen who was also detained along with them, was reportedly released before the Spanish upon payment of bail.
The information reports that various irregularities and human rights violations occurred during the operation. In fact, among other things, the victims were forced to face the wall with their hands on the head. They were pushed violently into one of the vans without having been asked for their identification cards. When the victims asked why they were arrested, they were allegedly beaten and insulted. Moreover, they were obliged to stretch out in length in the truck and they were covered with a canvas impeding any visual contact among them and also with any by-passers.
According to the information received, after the transport, which lasted approximately ten minutes, they arrived at a place that seemed to be a barrack. Individuals were wearing green and blue uniforms. The police obliged them to kneel down and then took their backpacks, wallets (cangureras), documents and money. They were subsequently taken one by one to an obscure and empty room.
According to the information, they were beaten, humiliated, insulted and threatened during this period. One of the women was subjected to sexual abuse consisting of molestation on various parts of her body. The women stayed most of the time on their feet, facing the wall with their hands on the head, while the men were obliged to stay on their knees, also facing the wall. Furthermore, they were photographed randomly, while they were dazzled by torches, and pushed.
The Mexican citizen who was with the Spanish citizens at the moment of the detention was obliged to flex while a group of agents was making fun of him and threatening him. Furthermore, all of them were victims of psychological torture as they constantly heard the loading and unloading of the guns, while being kept in the dark.
After approximately one hour, they were taken out with their heads down. The women were separated from the men to get into the pick-ups, where they were again obliged to bend their heads. According to the information, they were not told at any point where they were and where they were going.
From there, they were brought to another place which seemed to be a police station. They were brought in one by one, were asked about their personal data and health condition. At the same time, two men in plainclothes with a notebook asked them many questions about their stay in the country. They were then taken to a room before a judge where they randomly heard that they were accused of “public scandal”. However, they were not informed of the motives of their detention, neither of the official charges they were accused of. They were not permitted any phone calls or contacts with the Spanish consulate.
According to the information received, the judge told them that, because they did not have any documents, they would be transferred to the migration agency (estancias de migracion). The detainees informed the judge that the police had stolen their documents including their money and other belongings but the judge did not pay attention to their claims. On the next day, around 1:30 p.m., they were transferred from the police station to the National Institute of Migration (Instituto Nacional de Migracion, INM) of Oaxaca.
According to the same information, on 6 August 2007 the detainees made a statement on what happened and on 7 August they were then transferred in an official vehicle of the Federal Preventive Police (Policia Federal Preventiva, PFP) to the Migration station of the INM of Mexico city (Iztapalapa), where they were detained. On Wednesday 8 August 2007, they were brought to the Spanish consulate in order to get new passports, although they were told it would take a certain time to issue them.
Finally, on 13 August 2007 they were released. That same day, on behalf of Mrs. Cecilia Romero, the INM announced in a press release that Mrs. Ariadna Nieto Espine, Mrs. Nuria Morello Calafell, Mr. Ramon Sesen Marquina and Mrs. Laia Serra Perello had been released “once their legal entry into the national territory had been checked”.
At the same time, on 10 August 2007, the President of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights of the Mexican Senate (Comision de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos del Senado mexicano), Mrs. Rosario Ibarra, presented a petition for amparo in order to ask that the Spanish citizens be not deported from the Mexican territory. It was also reported that the four Spanish citizens declared that they would file a complaint against the Mexican authorities for human rights violations and for theft before leaving the country, among other things.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT welcomes the release of the four Spanish citizens, Mrs. Ariadna Nieto Espine, Mrs. Nuria Morello Calafell, Mr. Ramon Sesen Marquina and Mrs. Laia Serra Pereollo, but remains concerned for their safety and for their physical and psychological integrity during their stay on the Mexican territory, as well as for Mr. Jose Damian Resendiz Saucedo, the Mexican citizen who accompanied them at the time of the detention, and urges the Mexican authorities to take all necessary measures in order to guarantee their integrity.
Moreover, OMCT recalls that Mexico is a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which stipulates in its article 2 that “States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, (…) and, to this end, undertake: (b) To adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including sanctions where appropriate, prohibiting all discrimination against women (…). At the same time, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women stipulates in its article 4 (c) that the States shall “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons”.
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Finally, the OMCT manifests its fear regarding the fact that these serious human rights violations can remain unpunished and the perpetrators unsanctioned. OMCT urges the government to order a disciplinary investigation by the Regional Attorney (Procuraduria Regional) and the Attorney General of the Republic (Procuraduria General de la Republica) in order to lead to a thorough and impartial criminal investigation into these events so as to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Mexico urging them to
i. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of the individuals mentioned above, in particular of Mr. Jose Damian Resendiz Saucedo, including guarantee appropriate and free medical attention;
ii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into these events, notably the allegations of torture and ill-treatment, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. Ensure the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Adresses
Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva, 16, Avenue de Bude. 1202, Geneva, P.O. Box 433. Fax: +4122.748.07.08. E-mail: mission.mexico@ties.itu.int
Mexican Embassy in Brussels, 94 avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Fax: +32 2 644 08 19
Mr. President Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa, Oficial Residence of the Pinos, Casa Miguel Aleman, Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, Mexico DF. Tel: +52 (55) 27891100 Fax: +52 (55) 527 72 376. + 52 (55) 27 89 11 13.
E-mail: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Licenciado Francisco Javier Ramirez Acuna, Secretary of the Interior, Bucareli 99, 1er. floor, Col. Juarez, Delegacion Cuauhtemoc, Mexico D.F., C.P. 06600, Mexico,
FAX (55) 5093 34 14 E-mail: frjramirez@segob.gob.mx
Licenciado Jose Luis Soberanes Fernandez, President of the National Comission of Human Rights, Periferico sur 3469, Col. San Jeronimo Lidice 10200 Mexico D.F.
Tel.: +52(55)54907400 Fax: +52(55)56817199 + 55.568 18125
E-mail: correo@cndh.org.mx correo@fmdh.cndh.org.mx aasatashvili@cndh.org.mx
Licenciado Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, General Attorney of the Republic, Paseo de la Reforma no 211-213, Piso 16, Col. Cuauhtemoc, Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico D.F., C.P. 06500, MEXICO, Fax: +52 55 53 46 09 08; + 52 55 27 89 11 13, E-mail: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Adresses in Oaxaca:
・ Licenciado Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, Governor of the State of Oaxaca, Carretera Oaxaca-Puerto Angel, Km. 9.5, Santa Maria Coyotepec, Oaxaca, Oaxaca C. P. 71254, MEXICO Fax: +52 951 502 0530 E-mail: gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
・ Licenciado Evencio Nicolas Martinez Ramirez, Attorney of the State of Oaxaca, Avenida Luis Echeverria s/n, Col. La Experimental, San Antonio de la Cal, Oaxaca, Oaxaca 71236, Mexico, Fax: +52 951 511 5519
Please also write to the Mexican embassy in your country.
Geneva, 17 August 2007.
