Mexico's Alberto Patishtan: 'They Wanted to Shut Down My Struggle, But They Made It Shine' CNN Mexico
go to original November 1, 2013

Free at last - Alberto Patishtán flanked by son Héctor and daughter Gabriela (Notimex)

After leaving prison on a Presidential Pardon, Alberto Patishtán's first words were, "The thirteen years spent in prison represented another opportunity for me to help people who have no means of defense."

"They wanted to finish me off, but I'm innocent in the eyes of God and before myself. On the first day I arrived at the jail, said 'Here I begin another task in my life'," said the Tzotzil teacher at a press conference in Mexico City hours after the Secretariat of Government Affairs [SEGOB] announced initiation of the procedure for his release.

After the federal government announced the granting of a pardon for failures of the Mexican judicial system in his case, the teacher, who is originally from the Tzotzil community [El Bosque] in Chiapas, stated that the process for his liberation began with the support of his community against the authorities.

... In prison, he said, he met many cases of people who were in the same situation, where the judicial authorities violated due process and declined to provide the opportunity, particularly to indigenous people, to defend themselves against accusations.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

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