Uriel Villegas: The judge assassinated in Mexico by gunmen resigned a year ago to the protection because she felt out of risk | International

The judge Uriel Villegas Ortiz, killed this Tuesday next to his wife in the city of Colima with more than 20 times, she felt out of risk. The federal judge, who had carried on important criminal cases related to organized crime and drug trafficking, had resigned in February of 2019 to the protection that the mexican State offered him despite having been threatened indirectly, in April of 2018, according to show several documents obtained by THE COUNTRY. The double murder has touched the heartstrings within the judiciary, where it is qualified to Villegas Ortiz as a man of integrity and straight. Arturo Zaldívar, the president of the Judicial Power, described his murder as a crime of State. The event has waisted the institutions and reminded Mexico that the problems overshadowed for the moment by the epidemic of coronavirus are still there.

Uriel Villegas, a native of the State of Chihuahua, was appointed judge sixth district (first instance) of federal prosecutions in the State of Jalisco in march of 2017 after 16 years of climbing rung to rung of the ladder of the judiciary. To be a judge in that State, the cradle of the mighty Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), was a test of fire. Villegas was seconded to the prison’s maximum security Puente Grande where he knew the affairs of defendants alleged to belong to the cartel of Los Zetas, Gente Nueva, La Familia Michoacana, the Knights Templar and Sinaloa.

The judge took in this court one of the four processes related to Rubén Oseguera González, The Menchitothe son of the leader of the CJNG. Uriel Villegas approved transfer between federal prisons of the son of one of the bosses most powerful in the country. Also refused to halt the extradition to the united States of Ismael Zambada Imperial The Mayito Gordo, son of The May Zambada, the historic leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

In November of 2018, the court, presided over by Villegas became one of amparo, where he felt that their exposure decreased considerably. Three months later, the judge would drop the guard requesting the withdrawal of the security measures. “I believe that at the moment given my readscripción for almost three months to the Court Ninth District of Amparo in Criminal Matters, there is no data that demonstrates that I am in an environment of risk,” says the memorandum to the Council of the Judiciary and dated the 1st of February.

With that document, the judge Villegas was intended to waive a pickup truck Suburban armored, an escort composed by six items, and “a garment of personal protection”, a bullet-proof vest. This decision sought to be reconsidered from the Commission of surveillance of the judiciary. A document dated the 13th of February I attempted to make change of opinion to the judge. “He has the background that in April of 2018, the judge of merit, made the knowledge that the particular attorney of The Menchitoindirectly launched a threat against you”, indicates a risk analysis. This trade also included a study of the route that traveled on a daily basis the judge between your home and office “by a road that does not have security measures, a situation which constitutes an ideal scenario in the event that you would like to commit some crime”.

The paper concludes with a technical opinion which recommends that “the permanence of the security measures that were assigned to him”. This did not convince the judge, Villegas on February 21 confirmed its decision and declined throughout the security deployment. A year later, on February 1, 2020, the judge was sent to the State of Colima, where he held a vacancy after a judge of first instance to win a contest of opposition. Your life and the lives of his wife disappeared in front of the doors of your house 481 days after you have signed a trade, without knowing it, condemned him to death.

The double murder was perpetrated by gunmen who, according to some information, as if they had been interest by a pickup truck that had been put up for sale the family Villegas Decks. The sound of gunfire broke the peace of the calle León Felipe, in an elegant residential area of the city of Colima, a State in the Pacific that is located within the zone of influence of the CJNG.

The Prosecutor general’s office drew the investigation of the killings. The dome of the judiciary is confident that the investigation can clarify a case that points to drug trafficking. The work of the office of the prosecutor of Alejandro Gertz managed to clear the fog that was covering the murder of federal judge Vincent Bermudez Zechariah, occurred in October of 2016 in the State of Mexico. In that case, the first versions pointed to organized crime. Three years later, the authorities took over the investigation and filed charges against the wife of the togado, who allegedly ordered the murder to collect the life insurance.

The waiver of the security Villegas Ortiz and his wife, who left orphan two young daughters of age, opens a debate within the Judiciary. Security measures are only inalienable, in time, to the judges of the Supreme and to the members of the Electoral Tribunal. Some versions of the inside of the judiciary speculate that the resignation may have responded to the costs faced by many togados, who must cover out of their pockets the gasoline of the armoured and meals and per diem of its security forces. How to force judges to accept these measures? Why should they have to cover the expense of your protection? Where is the boundary between the responsibility of the State and the right to privacy? These are some questions that the judiciary is expected to discuss the tragedy of judge Villegas.

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