Thursday, April 28, 2011

Charging Soldiers

This is perhaps a small step in the right direction regarding military impunity:
After a week of investigation, the governor of Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina, reported that seven soldiers assigned to the State Support Forces are under arraigo for the death of Jorge Otilio Cantú Cantú, a citizen who died April 18 in an apparent crossfire, in Monterrey.

The executive referred on various occasions to the arraigados as police, although he later specified that they are..."of military origin".

Medina de la Cruz said that the soldiers could be judged in federal court, but at this moment they are at the disposition of the local authorities, waiting to be processed.
I am a bit skeptical that this marks a major shift (and it's also not clear that the soldiers acted inappropriately); this is more like the exception that proves the rule. The only cases I'm aware of in which military personnel have been judged in civilian court have had unusual circumstances like this one.

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