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URGENT ACTION
Mexico: Fear for safety/ torture/ ill-treatment
PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 41/001/2006
19 July 2006
UA 197/06 Fear for safety/ torture/ ill-treatment
MEXICO Aureliano Álvarez Gómez (m)
Tiburcio Gómez Pérez (m)
Prisoners belonging to the group "La Voz del Amate" (The Voice of El
Amate)
Aureliano Álvarez Gómez and Tiburcio Gómez Pérez, inmates of the state prison
number 14 "El Amate", in Cintalapa municipality, Chiapas state, have been
tortured and ill-treated by other prisoners, reportedly with the consent of the
prison authorities. Amnesty International is concerned for their safety and
that of other inmates who are holding a protest in the prison.
Aureliano Álvarez Gómez and Tiburcio Gómez Pérez, members of the Tsotsil
indigenous group, were remanded in custody on 29 June 2006, awaiting trial on
charges of kidnapping. They had been held by prosecutors in a secure building
(casa de arraigo) for nearly two months while the case against them was put
together. During this time they were reportedly tortured and ill-treated by
judicial police in order to extract information and a confession. According to
reports, since the two arrived in El Amate prison they have been beaten on
several occasions by a gang of other inmates, they have been held underwater in
a drainage tank, and had plastic bags placed over their heads and chlorine
thrown on their bodies to cause burns.
The ill-treatment of Aureliano Álvarez Gómez and Tiburcio Gómez Pérez has been
publicized by a small group of inmates known as "The Voice of El Amate" (La Voz
del Amate), who consider themselves to be political prisoners. The group
believe that their imprisonment is the result of their support for the armed
opposition group, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejercito Zapatista de
Liberación Nacional, EZLN), and "La Otra Campaña" ("The Other Campaign"), a
peaceful political campaign initiated in early 2006 by the EZLN. Since January
2006, the group has been protesting about their detention and calling for
recognition as political prisoners. The prison authorities have reportedly
sought to encourage other prisoners to harass and threaten members of "La Voz
del Amate" since the group began its protest.
When members of "La Voz del Amate" released a statement to the media about the
attacks on Aureliano Alvarez Gómez and Tiburcio Gómez Pérez on 13 July, the
prison officials reportedly convened a meeting of other inmates at the prison,
in order to persuade them to organize a petition requesting the transfer of
members of "La Voz del Amate" to other prisons and encouraging attacks on
members of the group. According to reports, when senior prison officials go
into the prison cell blocks, they are accompanied by inmates belonging to the
prison gang allegedly responsible for the threats and attacks on Aureliano
Álvarez Gómez and Tiburcio Gómez Pérez and members of "La Voz del Amate."
When a local human rights organization, Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray
Bartolomé de las Casas, which has been assisting the families of the detainees,
visited the prison to assess the allegations that Aureliano Álvarez Gómez and
Tiburcio Gómez Pérez had been tortured and ill-treated, they were only allowed
to speak to the two men in the presence of officials. The State Human Rights
Commission has reportedly visited the prison in connection with the case, but
there is no information on what action it has taken.
| AI Index: AMR 41/001/2006 | | 19 July 2006 |
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