Case MEX 230806
Fear of ill-treatment/ Death in detention
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in connection in the following situation in Mexico.
Brief description of the situation:
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the “Fray Bartolome de las Casas” Center for Human Rights (Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Bartolome de las Casas”) of the death of Mr. Jesus Hernandez Perez, a tsotsil native, who died around 8:50 PM on 22 July 2006 as a result of the torture and ill-treatment inflicted upon him in the Social Rehabilitation Center (Centro de Readaptacion Social - CERESO) number 14, which is known as the “El Amate” prison, in the municipality of Cintalapa, Chiapas.
According to the report filed by Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez1, Mr. Jesus Hernandez Perez’s wife, she went to the CERESO Center with a family member on 23 July 2006 to obtain further information. After arriving, at approximately 1:30 PM, she was received by the assistant manager of the Center, who told her: “your husband died from natural causes; it was something that he ate…”, and showed her a picture of the body that was taken when they found him in his cell.
According to the information, after insisting to see her husband’s body, Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez was sent to what was most likely the office of the Public Ministry in the city of Cintalapa. There, they asked her for general and personal information, but did not show her the corpse. They only told her that “the cause of death was a heart attack”. Again, she insisted in seeing the body, and was sent to the Office of the Medical Examiner (Servicio Medico Forense - SEMEFO) after being forced to sign documents of which she ignored the content.
Afterwards, when they delivered the body on 23 July 2006 around 5:30 PM, Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez noticed that there were bruises around the mouth and scratches on the face. Therefore she protested to the people in attendance that they “not say that it was death by natural causes, if one can clearly see that he was hit.”
According to the information, that same 23 July, the body was moved to a place where it was buried half an hour later. Reports indicate that authorities ordered the burial of the body without first determining the cause of death, despite the launch of the enquiry numbered 000086/CE5/2006 at the Attorney General’s office of the Public Ministry in Cintalapa. This act could be considered arbitrary since ordering the burial of a body, in this case Mr. Jesus Hernandez Lopez, without first determining the cause of death, goes against the Minnesota Protocol, which imposes upon State parties the obligation to conduct an exhaustive investigation of people who die while in their custody.
Furthermore, according to information provided by telephone by another family member of late Mr. Hernandez Lopez who was also kept in the CERESO prison and who was forced to collect Mr. Hernandez Lopez’s clothes, he found a piece of clothing stained with blood in a bag underneath the bed of the deceased. Consequently, Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez presumes that her husband did not die from natural causes but rather, he was beaten or something provoked him into hurting himself, perhaps to the point of death.
Afterwards, on 7 August 2006, Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez went to Cintalpa to pick up copies of the autopsy and the burial certificate. There, employees refused to give them to her, and finally did so only after she insisted.
The report of the autopsy conducted on Mr. Jesus Hernandez Perez, which was signed by a medical examiner doing rounds - whose name has still not been released - by means of the letter numbered 436/SMF/FGE/2006 and dated 23 July 2006, claims that the body : “has bruises of 5 centimetres in diameter that are situated on the right side of the upper lip with a wound of 2 centimetres in length, which was closed with 4 simple stitches. There are also other bruises of 2X1 cm in diameter, located on the right side of the lower lip. There are also scratches of half a centimetre on the knuckles of the right hand.”
According to reports, the autopsy concludes that: “… the cause of death of the male who if living would answer to the name of Jesus Hernandez Lopez is generalised internal bruising whose cause remains to be determined, but which in forensic medicine is classified as fatal.” Furthermore, the information reveals that the death certificate that was given to the widow indicates that the death was “violent”.
According to the information, the last few times that Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez saw Mr. Jesus Hernandez Lopez alive was on 15 and 16 July 2006, when she visited him at El Amate. On 15 July 2006, Mrs. Lopez Perez, along with her three younger daughters, brought food to her husband, who seemed happy about the visit. The next day, on 16 July 2006, when they said goodbye, her husband accompanied her to the gate. While they were together, he commented that there are problems inside the CERESO, but that he was not worried, that nothing could happen to him because he didn’t have problems with anyone. Furthermore, sources indicated that during her visit on 15 July 2006, Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez saw that her husband had money in his wallet, which he earned by selling the bags that he made. However, when they gave her the deceased’s belongings, both the wallet and the money were gone.
OMCT recalls the fact that the “Fray Bartolome de las Casas” Center for Human Rights has already reported on the aggressive climate inside CERESO no. 14 following accounts from many prisoners that they had been verbally and physically assaulted by other inmates with the consent of penitentiary authorities.
According to information, because of the facts mentioned above, it is feared that the death of Mr. Jesus Hernandez Perez was the result of ill-treatment and/or acts of torture perpetrated inside the CERESO (“El Amate”) prison. Therefore, the International Secretariat of OMCT urges the Mexican Government to take the necessary measures to guarantee an independent, exhaustive and impartial investigation into the events mentioned above, with the goal of identifying those responsible, bringing them to justice, and applying the penal and/or administrative sanctions stipulated by law.
More generally, OMCT calls upon Mexican authorities to take the necessary measures to implement minimum conditions of security and of respect for the physical and psychological integrity of all people who are deprived of liberty, in accordance with its national laws and with its commitments acquired through international human rights instruments.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Mexico urging them to:
i. Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all the of Mrs. Elena Lopez Perez, of her children, and of all the members of her family, as well as of all the members of Mr. Jesus Hernandez Perez’s family;
ii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into these events in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the civil, penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. Guarantee that adequate compensation is awarded to the family of Mr. Jesus Hernandez Perez’s;
iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses:
- Mision Permanente de Mexico ante las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra, 16 Avenue du Bude, 1202 Ginebra, Suiza. Fax :+41.22.748.07.08 TEL.: +41.22.748.07.07
E-mail: mission.mexico@ties.itu.int
- Doctor Vicente Fox Quezada, Presidente de la Republica Mexicana, Colonia San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F. FAX: +52.55.516.58.37, +5255.55.22.34.26, +52.55.50.93.34.14
+52.55.52.77.23.76, +52.55.55.15.57.29 E-mail: radio@presidencia.gob.mx ;
E-mail :sprivada@presidencia.gob.mx ; vicente.fox.quesada@presidencia.gob.mx
- Sr. Daniel Cabeza de Vaca Hernandez, Procurador General de la Republica, Mexico, D.F., Tel: + 52.55.534.601.08 ; Fax: + 52.55.534.609.08 E-mail: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
- Licenciado Miguel Angel Yunez Linares, Subsecretario de Prevencion y Proteccion Ciudadana. Tel: +52.55.52.42.81.00 Ext. 18989 FAX: +52.55.52.42.81.00 Ext. 18901
- Diputada Rebeca Godinez y Bravo, Presidente de la Comision de Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Camara de Diputados. Mexico CP:15969, Tel: + 52.55.542.250.10
- Diputado Heliodoro Diaz Escarraga, Presidente de la Mesa Directiva de la Camara de Diputados, Mexico DF, Tel: + 52.55.562.813.00
Addresses in Chiapas:
- Sr. Pablo Salazar Mendiguchia, Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas, Palacio de gobierno, 1er Piso, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Conmutador:+52.961.61.290.47, + 52.961.61.290.48
+52.961.61.210.93,+ 52.961.61.233.52 y + 52.961.61.205.28 E-mail: secpart@prodigy.net.mx
- Sr. Mariano Herran Salvatti, Fiscal General del Estado de Chiapas, C.P 30064 Tuxtla Gutierrez,Chiapas,Conmutador:+52.961.61.653.59;+52.961.61.653.65;+52.961.61.653.74;+52961.61.653.73, Ext 300 - 303
Please also write to Mexican embassies in your respective countries.
Geneva, 23 August 2006
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