(WiPC/IFEX) – On 6 November 1998, Internatiuonal PEN released the following statement on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Mexican Officer Brigadier General Jose Francisco Gallardo’s detention: **For background to General Gallardo’s detention, see IFEX alerts of 17 March 1998, 15 August and 23 January 1997, 19 November and 15 November 1996 and 10 […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – On 6 November 1998, Internatiuonal PEN released the following
statement on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Mexican Officer
Brigadier General Jose Francisco Gallardo’s detention:
**For background to General Gallardo’s detention, see IFEX alerts of 17
March 1998, 15 August and 23 January 1997, 19 November and 15 November 1996
and 10 April 1995**
On 9 November 1998, Mexican Officer Brigadier General Jose Francisco
Gallardo will have completed five years in prison on what are widely
recognized to be trumped-up charges brought against him in order to silence
him.
On this sad anniversary, International PEN, the world association of writers
with a 75-year history of defending freedom of expression, re-affirms its
support and solidarity with Brigadier General Gallardo and his family. The
organisation considers Gallardo to be held in denial of his right to freedom
of expression and calls for his immediate release.
Many impartial observers scrutinizing the facts – including PEN, Amnesty
International, even the Organization of American States – have concluded
that Gallardo’s sentencing, in March and April 1998 to nearly 29 years’
imprisonment on charges of “theft” and “illegal profiteering” is patently
unjust.
Gallardo, aged 51, is a high-ranking military officer whose promotions came
fast and whose commitment to the Mexican army has never wavered. Throughout
both his career and his studies – he graduated in political and social
sciences – he aimed at a better
understanding of why the Mexican military was riddled with problems and how
to solve them. It is generally agreed that the publication in October 1993
of the conclusions of his doctoral thesis in Forum, a local magazine,
constitutes the real reason for his imprisonment. Under the title of The
Need for a Military Ombudsman in Mexico Gallardo pressed for an
impartially-elected civilian ombudsman for the army and an end to special
“war powers” in peace time, which he argued were unconstitutional. On 9
November that year he was arrested and old charges of embezzlement, fraud,
damages to military property of which he had been exonorated four years
previously were resurrected. He was offered his freedom if he agreed to
admit to his “guilt”. He refused and for more than four years, a stalemate
continued, during which the Inter-American Human Rights Commission examined
his case and declared his detention to be unjustifiable.
In March 1998 this year, the authorities prepared a sudden trial against him
on a charge of theft. At hearings at military base, presided over by five
high-ranking officers, he was sentenced to a maximum term of 14 years and 8
months. The precise charge was
“stealing horse feed and uniforms and burning army documents to cover up the
theft.” The following month, the military court, as if in defiance of
international criticism, sentenced him to an additional 14-year prison term
on equally vague charges of “illegal profiteering.” This brings his total
sentence to 28 years and 8 months.
In early October 1998 the Military Supreme Court announced that the
sentences against Brigadier General Gallardo had been ratified and a few
days later he was stripped of his military grades. This latest move has
allowed Mexican government representatives to refer to Gallardo as an
ex-General and to declare the case definitely closed. Brigadier General
Gallardo and his family argue that under Mexican Law they still have a right
to appeal to Federal Justice.
International PEN calls on the Mexican Authorities to order the immediate
release of Brigadier General Gallardo and the quashing of his unjustified
convictions.
