Mexico City, Apr 25 (EFE) INM), Francisco Garduño, for the death of 40 migrants in a government detention center on March 27.
After a second hearing held this Tuesday, since Garduño already appeared before the judge last Friday, the final one is expected to be next Sunday, when the magistrate must decide whether, as the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) accuses him, he breached “his obligations to monitor, protect and provide security to the people and facilities under his charge.”
Garduño’s defense lawyer, Rodolfo Pérez, assured that the process is marked by “insufficient evidence”, for which he was optimistic regarding the outcome of Sunday’s hearing.
In addition, he indicated that this time has allowed him to collect “new elements in the investigation.”
After nearly six hours of hearing, the federal judge in charge of the case, Víctor Manilo Hernández, upheld his decision to keep the high-ranking official of the Mexican government free and dismissed the FGR’s requests to remove him from office and prohibit him from leaving the country.
“At the time that the preventive (prison) was requested, the judge considered it disproportionate and excessive (…) and considered the suspension of the position and (the prohibition of) leaving the country unfounded,” Pérez told the media to the leaving the court.
He did accept, as the only precautionary measure, that Garduño must appear every 15 days in court.
The head of Migration, who refused to testify before the judge, did not want to do so before the media either.
“I declared before the judge my constitutional guarantee to remain silent and before you the same, I am still in a process,” Garduño told the media.
The director of Immigration Control and Verification, Antonio Molina, also appeared at the hearing on Tuesday, who at the time Garduño left the court was still in front of the judge.
Garduño could be charged with the illegal exercise of public service, since the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) accused him of “failing to comply with his obligations to monitor, protect and provide security to the people and facilities under his charge, promoting the crimes committed against migrants.
The Prosecutor’s Office also pointed out that it has identified a pattern in the actions of the INM directors “in which the security measures that were essential and mandatory for these cases have been omitted.”
It is not ruled out that the head of Migration accepts an early conclusion of the process, that is, that he asks to carry out an abbreviated procedure or negotiates a reparation agreement with the victims to avoid going to trial.
International scrutiny on the role of the Government of Mexico and the INM has grown after the fire on March 27, when six Hondurans, seven Salvadorans, 19 Guatemalans, seven Venezuelans and one Colombian died, which El Salvador considered a “state crime”. ”.
