U.N. panel demands release of jailed Mexican indigenous leader

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found the arrest of Mexican community police leader Nestora Salgado to be arbitrary and illegal and is demanding her immediate release, a member of the woman’s legal team said.

Ricardo Lagunes Gasca confirmed the Genevabased group’s resolution to EFE, saying that international panel of five independent human rights experts had communicated its decision to him on Tuesday.

The group studied evidence put forth by the Seattle University Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, which is representing Salgado, and the Mexican government’s responses.

Salgado was detained by soldiers in August 2013 while leading a community police force in Olinala, an indigenous community in the southern state of Guerrero.

She was accused of dozens of kidnappings during her work as regional coordinator of that vigilante force, which was established to protect the local indigenous population from criminals.

Lagunes, the Human Rights Clinic’s partner attorney in Mexico, said his client had been held incommunicado and never brought before a judge to determine the legality of her arrest.

The panel demanded not only that Mexican authorities release her immediately but also provide “appropriate compensation” for numerous human rights violations she has suffered.

Lagunes said another important aspect of the decision was that “due to the seriousness of the case, the working group (forwarded it on to) the United Nations’ special rapporteurs on torture and on human rights defenders.”

Salgado moved to the United States in 1991 at the age of 20 and divided her time between Olinala and the Seattle area, the Human Rights Clinic said in a news release.

The Human Rights Clinic noted in its release that “Guerrero law and the Mexican Constitution guarantee the rights of indigenous communities to form their own security institutions.”

It added that “Salgado’s group was officially part of state law enforcement and had the express approval of Guerrero’s governor.”

In January 2015, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights urged the Mexican government to take precautionary measures to protect the life and physical integrity of Salgado, citing her precarious health behind bars.