A Year After Mexican Soldiers Killed Suspected Criminals, Calls for Justice Mount Mark Stevenson - The Associated Press
go to original July 1, 2015

"It was the state," a sign read on streets in Mexico. (Iván Moreno/teleSUR)

A year later, many people say justice still has not been done in the case of soldiers killing as many as 15 suspected gang members after a confrontation at a grain warehouse in southern Mexico.

None of the seven soldiers detained has been convicted in the case and only one victim's family has received government reparation payments.

None of the detectives and prosecution agents accused of trying to cover up the case by torturing survivors has been fired. None has been charged, although about 20 remain under investigation, the Mexico State prosecutors' office said.

The case against the soldiers has been so slow that even the defense secretary, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, is frustrated. "The request is for the trial to start," Cienfuegos told the newspaper El Universal. "I think there has been enough time for this to take place, and be wrapped up."

In November, three soldiers were charged with aggravated homicide and four others, including a lieutenant, were charged with "actions improper to the public service" for failing to report the killings. Mexico's creaky legal system, changes in the defense team and slowness by prosecutors are all believed to have contributed to the slowness.

But the State of Mexico, where the killings occurred, has done a number of about-faces, first praising the army for confronting the suspects, who were believed to be members of a criminal gang.

Read the rest at Tribtown.com

Related: UN Rights Office Urges Mexican authorities to Pursue Investigation Into Extrajudicial Killings (India Blooms News)

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