(CEPET/IFEX) – Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, a member of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, APPO), has been brought before a judge on accusations that he shot and killed journalist Bradley Will. In addition, another APPO member, Octavio Pérez Pérez, was detained and charged with being […]
(CEPET/IFEX) – Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, a member of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, APPO), has been brought before a judge on accusations that he shot and killed journalist Bradley Will.
In addition, another APPO member, Octavio Pérez Pérez, was detained and charged with being an accomplice in the murder and arrest warrants are pending for nine other APPO members. The arrest warrants were requested by the national Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR).
Will, who was working for the independent Indymedia news agency, was assassinated in Oaxaca state, southeast Mexcio, on 26 October 2006 while he was covering a conflict between civil society groups and the state’s governor.
The Oaxaca state Attorney General’s Office has claimed that APPO members were responsible for Will’s death. However, the National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos de México, CNDH) recently published recommendations directed at the governor of Oaxaca, the Oaxaca state Congress and the national and state Attorney General’s Offices after concluding that there were irregularities in the investigation into the journalist’s assassination.
When consulted regarding the detention of the APPO members, the CNDH said that the arrests indicate that the PGR has ignored its observations. The commission announced that it would take action against the governor of Oaxaca, the Congress and the Attorney General’s Offices for failing to respond to its recommendations.
Updates the Will case: http://ifex.org/es/content/view/full/97410