Former Attorney General Arrested in Missing 43 Mexican Students

However, the investigation included cases of torture, improper arrests, and improper handling of evidence, so most of the gang members directly involved were free to roam.

The incident occurred near a large army base, and an independent investigation found members of the military were aware of what was going on. I’ve been requesting it for a while.

The Truth Commission investigating the case said on Thursday that one of the kidnapped students was a soldier who had infiltrated the radical teacher’s college, but the military provided real-time information that the kidnapping was taking place. They didn’t search for him, even though they had.

The Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.

Soldiers and officers and other officials, police and gang members being sought under Friday’s warrant have been charged with murder, torture, official misconduct, organized crime and enforced disappearance.

Loading

It wasn’t immediately clear if all the suspects faced all charges or if the suspects were among dozens previously arrested and charged in previous investigations.

Before changes to Mexican law, the military was long allowed to refer soldiers accused of misconduct to separate military tribunals. However, if the crime involved civilians, the soldier must be tried in civilian courts.

The accused soldiers served at a base near where the 2014 kidnapping occurred.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party, to which both Murillo Karam and Peña Nieto belonged, said Murillo Karam’s arrest was “more a matter of politics than justice. it won’t.”

Mexican federal prosecutors previously issued arrest warrants for members of the military and federal police, as well as for Tomás Xelón, who was head of Mexico’s detective agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the time of the kidnapping.

Loading

Zeron is being investigated for torture and covering up an enforced disappearance. He fled to Israel and Mexico enlisted the Israeli government to arrest him.

Gertz Manero said he was suspected of stealing more than $44 million from the Attorney General’s budget, in addition to Zeroon’s criminal charges related to the case.

The motives for kidnapping students remain a matter of debate.

On September 26, 2014, local police, organized crime members and authorities in Iguala kidnapped 43 students from a bus. Students regularly requisitioned buses for transportation.

Murillo Karam claimed the students were handed over to a drug cartel who killed them, incinerated the bodies at a nearby Cocula dump and threw the pieces of burned bones into the river.

Subsequent investigations by independent experts and the Office of the Attorney General, as well as investigations corroborated by the Truth Commission, dismissed the idea that the bodies were incinerated in the Cocula dump.

There is no evidence that the student may still be alive.

APs