Mexican Supreme Court Candidate's Record Clouded by Torture Accusations David Agren - The Guardian
go to original December 3, 2015

Al Jazeera's Rachel Levin reported on the Tlatlaya massacre case last year from Mexico City. Warning: This video contains graphic images which some viewers may find disturbing. (Al Jazeera English)

A former state attorney general whose office is accused of torturing witnesses during a botched investigation into an alleged army massacre was questioned by the Mexican Senate this week.

But Alejandro Jaime Gómez Sánchez was not being grilled over his office’s probe into the Tlatlaya massacre, in which troops are alleged to have murdered 22 people. He was defending his credentials as a candidate for the supreme court.

Gómez’s nomination is causing disquiet among lawyers and human rights activists as president Enrique Peña Nieto moves to appoint a close collaborator to fill one of the two vacant spaces on the country’s Supreme Court.

Mario Patrón, director of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Centre, said the State of Mexico’s attorney general’s office – which Gómez oversaw – was responsible for serious abuses, including manipulating the crime scene and torturing three witnesses.

...In recent months Mexico’s supreme court has made a series of progressive rulings on contentious issues, finding in favor of same-sex marriage, abortion rights and drug legalization. But the retirement this week of two left-leaning veteran judges has left a cloud of uncertainty over the court’s future direction. Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: Mexican Soldiers Ordered To Kill In Tlatlaya, Claim Rights Activists (The Guardian)

Related: Mexico Supreme Court: "Fast Track" Approval of New Justices Feared by Civil Society Organizations (Proceso)

Related: Mexico Supreme Court: What Should Applicants Be Asked? (Reforma)

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