Case Against Mexico City Mayor Dealt a Setback
A Mexican judge late Friday sent charges of abuse of authority against leftist Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador back to prosecutors, who pledged to refile them.
Federal District Judge Juan Olvera did not rule on whether the charges were justified. He said prosecutors had made a procedural mistake in setting bail for Lopez Obrador.
Olvera ruled that the mayor would first have to appear in court, implying an arrest warrant would have to be issued for him, before any bail could be granted.
Prosecutors plan to refile the charges and ask a judge to issue such an arrest warrant, possibly as soon as this weekend, an official with the attorney general’s office said on condition of anonymity.
The judge can then decide to issue the warrant or dismiss the charges.
The charges, relating to an obscure land case, threaten to knock Lopez Obrador out of Mexico’s 2006 presidential race, which he leads in the polls. He says the charges are fabricated.
The $180 bail payment by two legislators from President Vicente Fox’s National Action Party had raised questions, especially regarding how they had found out before anyone else that charges had been filed and bail had been set.
The decision was likely to be greeted as a victory by Lopez Obrador, who had filed a legal challenge against the bail payment.
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