Michoacan Judge frees 43 detained after Apatzingan Massacre

Translated for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article by Otis B Fly-Wheel

In what signifies another blow to the PGR , a Federal Judge in Michoacán granted liberty to 43 of the 44 people detained this past 6th January in Apatzingan Michoacan, after a confrontation between civilians and Federal Forces

Jorge Armando Wong , a Fifth District Judge , based in Uruapan , he issued the freedom to 38 of the defendants because the PGR had offered no evidence , that was a requirement of holding them , for trial , for the crime of possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the army.

He also issued formal prison to six of the arrested , however , five of those were released under parole,   and only one remained in prison.

The 43 accused left the Federal Prison of El Rincon in Nayarit yesterday , where on the 7th of January , they were imprisoned accused of ownership of fire arms and associated crimes.

On the 6th of January , there were two confrontations in the Municipality of Apatzingan, that left at least nine dead. The first of these occurred when elements of the Mexican Army evicted the Mayor of Apatzingan , which left one person dead.

The second shooting occurred while performing the transfer of vehicles to a pound , there at least eight people were killed , so informed the Commissioner for Security and Integral Development of Michoacán , Alfredo Castillo Cervantes.

Weeks before on the 16th of December , a confrontation in La Ruana left 11 people dead, including the son of the founder of the Autodefensas of La Ruana Hipolito Mora Chavez. The battle went on for at least six hours.

For the confrontation , the PGJE obtained more than 50 arrest warrants , including Hipolito Mora and Luis Antonio Torres alias El Americano.

Original article in Spanish at Proceso.com.mx

Updated with another article from Michoacán 3.0

Morelia Michoacán.

After the liberation of 43 of the 44 imprisoned autodefensas of Apatzingan , all indicates that this should be treated as a massacre , the PGJE did not apportion sufficient proof , of the charges of carrying arms for exclusive use of the navy.

The same authorities were demonstrating that this should be treated as a massacre , and that victims were not caught in a cross fire, they were killed by the Army and Federal Police , complained Armando Mendoza , one of the detainees identified as Autodefensa.

For this motive , complaints accused the massacre of being committed by Federal Forces , and this same Friday there will be a reunion of personnel of the National Commission for Human Rights ( CNDH), to ratify the complaints and expand the accusations.

According to a member of the Autodefensas who is inactive, the Fifth District Judg , based in Uruapan, Jorge Armar Wong , confirmed its treatment as a massacre of a group of demonstrators, and that he freed the accused because the PGR had not offered sufficient proof of carrying of arms.

Everything has been a persecution , they have always sought to plant evidence against persons who are not related to Federal Groups , and this is a sample of these actions , but because everything went public and the media recorded the facts , the Federal police failed to plant evidence said Armando Mendoza.

He said that many of the detainees on the 5th and 6th ,their homes are being searched , the authorities are doing excavations with the argument that bodies were buried ther , which is an outright lie , and we are one hundred percent certain that they are only there to plant evidence. , that is why we are going to come before the Commission of Human Rights so that they will stop these abuses, said one native of Apatzingan.

 Finally he pointed out that in spite of all these abuses, we will not stop fighting for the defense of the people, nor will the real Autodefensas disappear, rather , he explained , in the course of this weekend they would launch a call to the Mexican Army to resume actions to monitor and combat the Knights Templar.

This is an outreach to the Army to demonstrate that they are here to monitor the peace , and to show that they are here to combat armed criminals and not unarmed people, this is the last chance we will give them , said the spokesperson of the Unified Autodefensas of Apatzingan.

Original article in Spanish at Michoacán 3.0