PBI-Mexico accompanies Cerezo Committee at sit-in protest at Supreme Court

On August 10, PBI-Mexico tweeted: “Today we accompany the @comitecerezo in the popular plantón [sit-in protest] that will remain before the @SCJN [Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation] until the sentence issued today by the Court is implemented.”

Urgent Action for Human Rights Defenders (ACUDDEH) also tweeted: “Accompaniment of Peace Brigades International (PBI) to the Cerezo Mexico Committee.”

Police harassment

The day before, PBI-Mexico also tweeted: “We ask that the acts of harassment cease and that the protection of the members of the Cerezo México Committee and the members of the popular plantón currently installed in front of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation be ensured.”

The Comité Cerezo México has posted: “In the evening and early hours of August 9, CDMX [Mexico City] police tried to prevent FNLS [National Front for Socialism] members from entering the plantón in front of the SCJN [Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation]. Over 800 riot police encapsulated protesters for two hours.”

Front Line Defenders has explained: “The Frente Nacional de Lucha por el Socialismo (National Front for Socialism) is a grassroots movement working to denounce and publicly condemn violations of human rights perpetrated by the Mexican government, specifically those related to enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions and political prisoners.”

Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya

On August 10, Pie de Página reported: “The @SCJN resolves in favor of the relatives of two EPR [Popular Revolutionary Army] militants detained and disappeared by the army in 2007. The court’s sentence implies the opening of the military barracks to search for Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz.”

La Jornada also reported: “Relatives and legal representatives of Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya, who disappeared on May 25, 2007, expressed their agreement with the draft sentence presented by Minister Margarita Ríos Farjat, which will be voted on today in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN).”

That article adds: “Ríos Farjat proposes to summon the Secretariats of National Defense (Sedena) and the Interior (SG), the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and the National Search Commission (CNB) so that in 30 days they take concrete actions to resolve this case.”

PBI-Mexico began to accompany the Cerezo Committee in 2002.