MEXICO: Controversial documentary "Presunto Culpable" (Presumed Guilty) which exposes flaws in the country's justice system, returns to the theatre

Record ID: 304065

  • Title: MEXICO: Controversial documentary "Presunto Culpable" (Presumed Guilty) which exposes flaws in the country's justice system, returns to the theatre
  • Date: 10th March 2011
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MARCH 09, 2011) (REUTERS) MAN CLIMBING UP STAIRCASE TO ADVERTISE DOCUMENTARY AGAIN MAN PLACING LETTERS ON BILLBOARD CINEMA EXTERIOR BOX OFFICE WOMAN PURCHASING TICKET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CINEMA-GOER, BLANCA VERDUZCO, SAYING: "I think the media fought for its return. I now think it's a way to make us Mexicans see that we can present our demands and injustices. Sometimes we don't know what is happening. Society lives one life and we live in another. We don't know what really happens." MAN PLACING LETTERS ON BILLBOARD MAN HANGING UP POSTERS OF DOCUMENTARY
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Reuters ID: LVADHF1Z1D39JCQM5CWZLWQNZL5N
  • Story Text: An appeals court overturns a lower court judge's order to stop screenings of a documentary criticizing the Mexican justice system.
    The court ruled suspending the documentary violated freedom of information.
    The decision came a day after, distributors Cinepolis were told to stop showing the film by the interior ministry who said it must abide by a judge's order to protect a witness' privacy.
    The film "Presunto Culpable" (Presumed Guilty) tells the story of a street vendor, Jose Antonio Zuniga, who received a 20-year prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit. It has been very well received since it was launched in the country last month.
    Last week, the judge ordered screenings to be halted pending a complaint filed by a prosecution witness who claimed he had been filmed without his knowledge and claimed his privacy had been violated.
    Both the ministry and distributors have decided to appeal against the ruling.
    The documentary was filmed by two lawyers, Layda Negrete and Roberto Hernandez, who were called on by Zuniga's desperate relatives and who soon found themselves portraying a legal system steeped in incompetence and corruption.
    Although it was shown abroad at various film festivals in 2009, it was not released in Mexico until now.
    One cinema goer, said she was happy the film had returned to the theatre.
    "I think the media fought for its return. I now think it's a way to make us Mexicans see that we can present our demands and injustices. Sometimes we don't know what is happening. Society lives one life and we live in another. We don't know what really happens."
    Zuniga was arrested in 2005 in a working-class Mexico City neighbourhood on suspicion of homicide. The prosecution based its case on the testimony of a lone witness who claimed Zuniga had shot a man in the street. Zuniga was not allowed to call on his alibis to testify.
    He was finally freed - well over two years into the sentence and after a failed retrial - when an appeals court judge watched the recordings of the trial and ordered Zuniga's release based on insufficient evidence.
    Negrete and Hernandez, who compiled more than 300 hours of footage, say stories like Zuniga's are not uncommon in Mexico.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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