| WASHINGTON
- October 25 - The Mexico-based Human Rights Center, "Miguel Agustin Pro
Juarez"(PRODH), Sierra Club, Greenpeace International and the Center for
Justice and International Law today presented a petition to the
Inter-American Commission for Human Rights for violations of American
Convention on Human Rights.that the Mexican government has committed
against jailed Mexican environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro
Cabrera.
The petition, presented today, coincidentally comes less than a week after
the murder of prominent Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa, who was
shot to death last Friday in her office in Mexico City. Ochoa's murderers
left behind a note threatening workers at PRODH, raising concerns for their
safety and that of all human rights and environmental activists in Mexico.
Ochoa was Montiel's and Cabrera's defense attorney after their arrest.
"This is the end of the honeymoon for the Fox government," said Alejandro
Queral, Washington Representative of the Sierra Club's International
Program. "We hoped to see real change in Mexico, but his government's
failure to effectively resolve this case are sad reminders that he has not
been able to improve the situation. For environmental and human rights
defenders, and for everyone who cares about these issues in Mexico--it
looks like the same old story."
"We have exhausted every other legal recourse within Mexico," said Jorge
Fernandez, defense attorney for Montiel and Cabrera. "The petition to the
Inter-American Commission is a last recourse in light of the fact that the
Mexican authorities have not had the political will to resolve this case
and have shown not to be impartial in their investigation and judgement of
this case."
"Destructive and illegal logging go hand in hand with corruption and human
rights violations throughout the world," said Scott Paul, Senior Forest
Campaigner at Greenpeace. "We had hoped that this would be a thing of the
past in Mexico, but clearly it is not."
On May 2, 1999, Mr. Montiel and Mr. Cabrera were arrested by members of the
Mexican Army. During the raid, the soldiers shot and killed Salomé Sanchez
Ortiz, a local farmer. Mr. Montiel and Mr. Cabrera were subsequently
beaten, tortured and forced to confess to charges of planting marijuana and
possession of illegal weapons. On August 28, 2000, Montiel and Cabrera
were convicted and sentenced to six-year and eight months, and ten-year,
jail terms respectively. All appeals within Mexico's judicial system have
been exhausted. Amnesty International has declared the two Prisoners of
Conscience.
PRODH, Sierra Club, Greenpeace International and the Center for Justice and
International Law believe that the arrest and conviction of the two
environmentalists stem solely from their efforts to stop the rampant
logging in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico.
The organizations seek the involvement of the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights because it is clear that Mexico's judicial authorities have
not been effective in imparting an impartial resolution of the case. The
legal defense of Montiel and Cabrera, carried out by attorneys at PRODH,
has appealed the Court's guilty verdict against the environmentalists by
presenting evidence that their arrests were illegal and that the signed
confessions were extracted under torture by members of the Mexican army.
The evidence includes a recommendation by Mexico's National Commission for
Human Rights and a report by Morris Tidball-Binz and Christian Tramsen,
forensic doctors working for Physicians for Human Right who examined
Montiel and Cabrera in jail.
The petition argues that Montiel and Cabrera's rights to personal liberty
and personal integrity contained in Articles 7 and 5 respectively, of the
American Convention on Human Rights, were violated by members of the
Mexican Army.
The petition also argues that the environmentalists rights to due process
and judicial protection (Articles 8 and 25 of the Convention) were
violated.
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