Abarca will continue to be detained for organized crime and illicit enrichment

Mexico City. The former mayor of Iguala, Guerrero, José Luis Abarca Velázquez, will continue to be held for crimes of organized crime and illicit enrichment, after a federal court declared unfounded the appeal he filed to regain his freedom.

José Luis Abarca promoted the amparo trial last year, after the Third District Court of Federal Criminal Proceedings residing in Toluca, left void the resolution of May 12 where Abarca Velázquez was denied the replacement of preventive detention by their freedom.

In his lawsuit, he alleged that the informal preventive detention has been unjustifiably exceeded beyond the two years established as a limit by Article 20 of the Federal Constitution. He also maintained that the ruling is not properly founded or motivated, so his release should have been ordered in accordance with what was resolved in the cases of Tzompaxtle Tecpile and others vs. Mexico and García Rodríguez and another vs. Mexico.

However, the magistrates of the First Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters in the state of Mexico determined that the district judge, correctly, complied with the effects of the protective ruling, since he took into account what was resolved in the Tzompaxtle Tecpile and García Rodríguez and resolved that justified preventive detention should be imposed as a precautionary measure.

“Beyond the legality and constitutionality of the considerations that underpin the determination with which the enforcement of the amparo was addressed, the responsible authority effectively complied with the effects of the protective ruling. This is because, in compliance with the obligations imposed on it, it took into account what was resolved in the cases of Tzompaxtle Tecpile and others vs. Mexico and García Rodríguez and another vs. Mexico, and resolved that justified preventive detention should be imposed as a precautionary measure,” said the referee.

But not only that, the defendants argued that in the ruling of the first instance judge it was mentioned that preventive detention should be maintained and no reference was made to informal or automatic detention, in addition to stating the reasons why it is considered that this measure is supported.

“The reasons why it is considered that said measure is supported were presented, which agrees with what was determined by this collegiate body, in the sense that what is prohibited is to impose the precautionary measure of informal preventive detention, and not preventive detention. justified. Hence, it was correct that the enforcement of the protection was considered fulfilled, as there was no defect or excess in compliance.”

The magistrates pointed out that the legal defense of the former mayor of Iguala, Guerrero, did not combat the considerations of the appealed agreement, but rather questioned aspects inherent to the legality of the resolution issued in compliance, which were not analyzed by the district court, which went beyond the subject of analysis of the appeal for non-compliance, since the purpose of this appeal is to verify whether or not it was correct for the amparo judge to consider that the enforcement of the amparo was fully complied with.

José Luis Abarca faces another process. In May 2023, he was sentenced to 92 years in prison for the crime of kidnapping six members of the Popular Unity Peasant Movement, including its leader, Arturo Hernández Cardona.