NEWS
AI cites serious flaws in courts
By Jonathan Roeder
The Herald Mexico/El Universal
(February 8, 2007) - Amnesty International (AI) presented a report on
Wednesday highlighting serious flaws in Mexico´s judicial system and
called on the new Congress and the Calderón administration to address
them.
The report, accompanied by a documentary film produced by the human rights organization, examines a series of real life cases of the system´s inadequacies - from the imprisonment of activists on shaky grounds to the use of torture and a lack of transparency.
One of the most flagrant deficiencies, said Esteban Beltrán of Amnesty International Spain, is the accusatory system that assumes suspects are guilty and weighs them with the burden of proving their innocence.
"Mexico has a system based in the 19th century, while in the last 100 years, the world´s knowledge in the area has advanced considerably," Beltrán said. "But it would seem Mexico hasn´t noticed."
He added the justice system was structured so that "the whole world is guilty, especially if you´re poor," citing the Byzantine bureaucracy associated with defending a case and a shortage of public defenders, many of whom he called unqualified.
Beltrán has studied Mexican justice in the states of Oaxaca and Jalisco over the last two years.
The documentary, narrated by Mexican actor Gael García, displayed a number of human rights cases that have received international media coverage in recent years, such as the hundreds of murdered women in Ciudad Juárez and the detention of rural farmers in the Guerrero highlands who challenged powerful logging interests.
Mary Robinson, a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico, praised the report and called for the implementation of oral trials and reforms to guarantee due process.
A recent U.N.-sponsored report on the justice system in five states highlighted problems such as overcrowded jails and non-existent budgets for the restitution of victims of crimes.
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