A federal judge in Ciudad de Juarez has remanded in custody the three officials of Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) charged for their alleged involvement in the deaths of 40 inmates at a migrant center in the city.
In the first hearing, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has charged Eduardo Apodaca Magallanes, head of Material Resources of the INM in the border city; Juan Carlos Meza Cumplido, coordinator of the Migrant Protection Beta Group; and Cecilia Rivera Tena, a migration agent, with the crimes of homicide, injury and unlawful exercise of public service.
The lawyers of the accused have taken advantage of the doubling of the constitutional deadline to gather evidence in favor of their defendants, as reported by the Mexican newspaper ‘El Universal’.
On March 27, a fire broke out at an INM center in Ciudad Juarez, resulting in the death of 40 people. Later, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accused the inmates themselves of starting the fire by setting a mattress on fire as a sign of protest against possible future deportation.
In addition, a recording of the security cameras sowed even more controversy as it showed how some migrants were locked in cells while INM officials left the center without helping them.
According to the authorities, a total of six arrest warrants were issued, three against INM officials, two against private security agents and one against the migrant who started the fire.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
