MEXICO-VIOLENCE/INVESTIGATION Human rights commission says Mexico refused interviews with military troops over case of missing students

Record ID: 143458

  • Title: MEXICO-VIOLENCE/INVESTIGATION Human rights commission says Mexico refused interviews with military troops over case of missing students
  • Date: 17th August 2015
  • Summary: COCULA, GUERRERO, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) SNIFFER DOG WITH MEMBERS OF MILITARY FORENSICS AT CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATORS AND CORDONED OFF SCENE VARIOUS OF FORENSICS WORKING AT CRIME SCENE VARIOUS OF FORENSICS CARRYING CONTAINER AWAY FROM SCENE MORE OF CORDONED OFF AREA
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6NIF9OMRS9CH4Z78HDTJ8P4Z3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A team of experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said on Monday (August 17) the Mexican government had not allowed them to interview soldiers who would be key witnesses in the investigation into the attack and disappearance of 43 students last September.
    Prosecutors, at the request of the families of the victims and in agreement with the government, initiated in March a review of the case that rocked the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto.
    Spaniard Carlos Beristain, recognized for coordinating a renowned truth commission report on Guatemala's civil war, said they still had no evidence pointing to whether the youngsters were dead or alive.
    "With the evidence we have available, we have no evidence that the youngsters are alive, as with the evidence available, we do not know what has been the fate of the youngsters. With the available evidence, we are basing everything on the available evidence," Beristain said.
    The group said they have still not managed to support Mexico's official version of the students' fate. Mexican authorities have said they believe the students from Ayotzinapa, located in the impoverished and violent southern state of Guerrero, were burned in a rubbish dump in the small town of Cocula after being abducted by police and delivered to hitmen.
    Former Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, known for her prosecution of several soldiers accused of atrocities during the Guatemalan civil war, noted serious flaws in the investigation. She specified her concern over a missing video that is believed to show a key moment from the night of September 26.
    "We have special concern for loss of evidence in the case. We have informed the authorities of the Attorney General's office about the existence, at the time, of a video recording at the scene of police intervention that led to the disappearance of a group of students," Paz y Paz said.
    The group also said the government would not allow them to directly question members of the military's Battalion 27, which cover the southern city of Iguala, where the students disappeared. The IACHR team said the government told them the troops could only be questioned in line with the criminal proceedings and that members of the IACHR team could not be present for the questioning.
    The team said the government would allow them to send the troops a questionnaire, but the group decided not to do so.
    "We wanted to apply the same mechanics with the military. So with the government's response, to quote those whom we can't see in person, nor ask the questions and another question, is that we have decided that we will not hand over the questionnaire. That means we have no control over how they are answered, what they answer, nor the possibility to clear points that emerge during the statement," said Chilean attorney Francisco Cox, who is known for working on the extradition of late dictator Augusto Pinochet to Spain.
    Of all the interviews they have done to review the case - which include police officers, relatives, alleged detained criminals and survivors of the attack - they have only been denied access to the military, the group said.
    The prosecutors, will release their final report on the case on September 6. The IACHR group said it is hoping the Mexican government will extend its the time it is being allotted to investigate the case.
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