Senate and Pena Administration Promote Limits on Detentions Without Charges Mauricio Torres - CNN Mexico
go to original February 21, 2013

On Wednesday the federal government and the Mexican Senate opened debate on possible reforms to the arraigo in recognition that its use has caused human rights violations and that its use must be limited.

MV Note: Literally root, arraigo is a legal concept according to which a suspect may be held without formal charges for up to 40 days; by court order, the suspect may be held for another 40 days without charges.

In a forum organized by the Senate, officials from the government of Enrique Peña Nieto stated that the president is aware of the negative effects of the arraigo and is willing to promote legal changes.

"(The arraigo) has brought a sequence of abuses, of human rights violations, and it has weakened institutions," Under Secretary of Human Rights, Care of Victims and Community Services of the Attorney General (PGR), Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, told the meeting.

In Mexico, prosecutors use the arraigo to ask a judge to hold a suspect while the case remains under investigation. In 2008, a constitutional amendment established that the arraigo for 40 days can only be used when a person is investigated for organized crime.

García Cervantes believes that the legal tool needs greater limits, such as reducing the time someone can be detained.

"With objective data, it is clear that the arraigo has been the occasion for persistent human rights violations; it is also used to arrest and then investigate, when the rule of law implies prior investigations [based on which] someone can be charged and put into the hands of the justice system," he told the media.

Moments earlier, the Under Secretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Secretariat of the Government Relations (SEGOB), Lía Limón, agreed on the need to review the arraigo's legal framework.

"Excessive use of this legal tool must be avoided; we must assure that its use is the exception and not the rule," she said during the forum.

The use of the arraigo, according to the official, has not improved the administration of justice. She cited that of the more than 4,000 people held under arraigo over the past two years, only 129 were prosecuted.

In their remarks, Senators Miguel Barbosa, from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and Miguel Romo, the Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI), said that their parties are in favor of amending the arraigo.

This week the Senate's Political Coordination Board (JUCOPO) stated that the issue will be one of the priorities for its agenda in the current session, which ends on April 30.

However, the Senators have not indicated whether they will analyze a new initiative or only shape an  opinion with the various proposals that have been presented since the start of the Legislature last September. Some legislators are inclined to impose more limits on the use of the arraigo in order to prevent abuses, while others demand its demise.

On several occasions, the United Nations Organization (UNO) and associations such as Amnesty International (AI) have called for Mexico to reform its laws to eradicate the arraigo because they consider it harmful for human rights.

See Spanish original

Posted by Jane Brundage at Mexico Voices

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