Mexican police brutality uncovered by human rights investigators
Mexican police brutality uncovered by human rights investigators
Four case of torture among alleged offences during inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto
Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
The Guardian, Thursday 6 December 2012 14.19 EST
A preliminary investigation by Mexico City's human rights commission has found evidence of police brutality and arbitrary detentions during the violent protests during last Saturday's inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
The ongoing investigation has identified at least four cases of possible torture, three of them involving electric shocks, as well as 22 cases of unjustified arrests among the 70 people still in jail in relation to the protests. Many of these face a preliminary charge of "attacks against the public peace", which carries a long prison term.
"The important thing here is that the authorities provide convincing evidence that the people who are sanctioned were really involved in the events and that we don't see people criminalised who were protesting peacefully or, in some cases, not even participating in the protests," the head of the commission, Luis González Placencia, told MVS Noticias.
The day began with intense clashes between masked youths and federal police around 10ft high barricades set up to keep protesters away from the inauguration ceremony in the congressional chamber. These events left one protestor in a coma and another without the sight in one eye.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/06/mexican-police-brutality-presidential-inauguration