Guadalupe Lizárraga Viernes, 17 de Noviembre del 2023
With torture and threats to fabricate charges against his son, they forced Hugo Amed Schultz to incriminate himself, states the lawyer before human rights authorities in the Mexican Senate.
By Guadalupe Lizarraga
The violations of human rights in the case of Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz are becoming increasingly apparent. Accused of participating in the murder of journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea on March 23, 2017, in Chihuahua, Schultz Alcaraz was coerced into accepting a plea deal, confessing guilt due to threats from agents of the Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE). These agents intimidated him with the fabrication of kidnapping charges against his son.
Manuel Norberto Cortez, leading the defense, presented the case to the Senate Human Rights Commission, coordinated by Senator Nestora Salgado, as well as to authorities from the Support Unit for the Justice System of the Ministry of the Interior and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
Cortez detailed that the case constructed by FEADLE agents Iris Gabriela Santoyo Cuervo and Jean Paul Rodríguez relied on the torture inflicted on Édgar Salazar Gaxiola, a 23-year-old previously accused of kidnapping his ex-partner. In an agreement to obtain benefits, he was presented as a protected witness, forced to sign blank sheets later presented as evidence of an incriminating confession against his father, Crispín Salazar Zamorano, and former municipal president of Chínipas, Hugo Amed Schultz.
In addition to the torture of Édgar Salazar Gaxiola, the lawyer mentioned psychological torture inflicted on Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz through threats directed at his son by the agents. This aimed to coerce him into admitting his involvement in the journalist's murder, an act also induced by former Governor Javier Corral on May 27, 2017, when he was lured to the Government Palace under false pretenses to provide a testimony, which was later altered by José Roberto Frías Aguayo, one of the prosecutors accompanying the former governor.
Cortez emphasized three points in his presentation to human rights authorities regarding the abbreviated trial that led to an eight-year sentence for Hugo Amed Schultz, referencing Article 201 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Firstly, it should have been proposed by the prosecutor's office; secondly, the corresponding accusation should have been formulated, and thirdly, the prosecutor should have presented the background that substantiated that accusation.
In this regard, the defense pointed out that the FEADLE prosecutor, Iris Gabriela Santoyo Cuervo, based the accusation on events from 2016, "in which the journalist wrote about leaders of organized crime and politicians in the region, some of which constituted defamation," as the lawyer specified. He also emphasized that these events excluded behaviors that could be attributed to Hugo Amed Schultz.
FEADLE agent Gabriela Santoyo Cuervo indicated that the journalist persisted in her writings in February 2017, at which point those affected decided to take her life, Cortez pointed out.
"In this perspective, it is clear that Hugo Amed had not committed the crime nor participated in its commission, and he was offered a plea deal where he was convicted of a simple homicide. If he did not accept, his son would be prosecuted for a false kidnapping charge," stated Manuel Cortez.
According to the defense, FEADLE agents obtained complaints of torture from the victims, Édgar Salazar Gaxiola and Hugo Amed Schultz, to close the investigation into the murder of Miroslava Breach.