Mexican authorities violate victims’ rights

Mexican authorities leak key information in three out of every ten femicide cases. For example, this was one of the reasons why Abril Pérez Sagaón was killed by gunmen when she was on her way to Mexico City’s airport, minutes after she left a courthouse. Months before her murder, she filed a lawsuit against her husband for domestic violence and attempted homicide after he brutally attacked her with a baseball bat while she slept. Abril’s femicide is especially upsetting because she was killed on the same day when women took to the streets to demand the eradication of violence against women.

Abril Pérez would be alive if the authorities who were responsible for delivering justice and protection didn’t leak information regarding her schedule and whereabouts to the people who wanted to harm her. Abril’s case is so full of cruelty that it is hard to comprehend.

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Besides leaking information, Mexican authorities also leak photographs and testimonies, which often make it to the press and social media. Authorities expose these materials because they disregard the victims’ tragedies and in a bid to obtain economic gain or notoriety by exhibiting graphic material. Moreover, the exhibition of graphic material is yet another attack against femicide victims and their families, which makes their situation even more tortuous.

Police officers, workers from the prosecutor’s office, prosecutors, and forensic workers are usually involved in the majority of information and images leaks because they have access to the files or the victims. This way, they traffic sensible information that affects the due process and endangers the life of those involved.

Although authorities urge women to denounced violence, there is no guarantee that the case will be confidential, something that could discourage the victims from denouncing violence.

Besides punishing those who attack women, authorities must also punish those who take advantage of their position to obtain financial gain by leaking sensible material. The process to deliver justice must include respect for the victims’ dignity.

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