Mexican Student Activist Exonerated and Freed After Year in Jail

Mario Gonzalez being released from prison. (Photo: Regeneración Radio)

Maybe, just maybe, some good will come from the tragedy of the student’s murders and disappearances in Iguala.  The uproar that it has caused worldwide, including protest by the Pope, Obama, the European Parliament, the UN, and many other countries and organizations, as well as student protests all over the world, may have caused the Mexican Government to distance itself as far as possible from jailed or detained students.

 
As reported in TeleSur, a student activist who had been in jail for a year after allegedly being beaten and tortured while in custody was released on Oct. 31.  No evidence of a crime was ever presented against him

Following a highly questionable arrest and alleged torture and human rights violations, Mario Gonzalez García was absolved of all charges after being held for more than a year without bail.

Mario Gonzalez was released from a Mexican prison in the early morning hours on Friday, after having been held without bail for over a year.

Mario’s mother, Patricia García Catalán, received the news of the young man’s pending release at noon and immediately informed supporters who began to gather at the Tepepan prison hospital. Gonzalez was transferred to the facility following a two-month hunger strike that ended last January.

Gonzalez and eight companions were pulled off a Mexico City bus on October 2, 2013 on their way to an annual march held to commemorate the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre. The activist presented evidence that he and his colleagues were arrested and subsequently beaten and tortured by Mexico City police. 

The nine detained were student activists and most were anarchists. The activists reportedly earned the enmity of school authorities including the Director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Jose Narro.

Though authorities were unable to press riot charges because the students were not present during the march - the Mexico City public prosecutor accused them of throwing firecrackers and molotov cocktails out the windows of the bus on their way to the demonstration.

No evidence or testimony was ever presented to support the charge, and supporters accuse the public prosecutor of withholding video evidence that supported the innocence of the students.

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Mexican institutions, including its law enforcement and judiciacy have come under intense internationally scrutiny following the disappearance of 43 training school students from Ayotzinapa who were attacked and detained by local police in Guerrerro state.