Mexico S Former Attorney General Arrested In 2014 Disappearance Of 43 Schoolgirls Mexico

Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday on charges of enforced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the kidnapping and disappearance of the student-teachers in the southwestern state of Guerrero, now considered a “state-sponsored crime.” Murillo was transferred to the attorney general’s office and will be transferred to a prison in Mexico City, authorities said. Within hours of the arrest, a judge issued 83 more arrest warrants for soldiers, police, Guerrero officials and gang members in connection with the case, the attorney general’s office said. During Murillo’s 2012-2015 term under then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, he oversaw the investigation into the September 26, 2014 disappearance of students from the rural college of Ayotzinapa that was criticized. Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images The remains of only three students were found and identified, and questions remain unanswered ever since. International experts said the official investigation was riddled with errors and abuses, including the torture of witnesses. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018 pledging to clarify what had happened. The López Obrador administration has tried since 2020 to arrest another top former official, Tomas Zeron, including asking Israel last year to extradite him. When asked about the government’s move to scrutinize the previous investigation, Murillo said he was pleased and open to questioning, local media reported in 2020. Murillo was taken into custody wearing black pants, his hands folded in the pockets of a gray jacket, as a police officer with a rifle slung across his chest stood behind him, according to an image published by local media. The attorney general’s office said Murillo cooperated “without resistance.” The arrest comes a day after Mexico’s top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, called the disappearances a “state crime” involving local, state and federal officials. “What happened? An enforced disappearance of the boys that night by government authorities and criminal groups,” Encinas told a news conference. The highest levels of Peña Nieto’s administration orchestrated a cover-up, he said, including changing crime scenes and concealing links between authorities and criminals. Murillo took over the Ayotzinapa case in 2014 and called the government’s findings “historical truth.” According to this version, a local drug gang bypassed the students with members of a rival gang, killed them, burned their bodies in a landfill and dumped the remains in a river. A panel of international experts picked holes in the account, and the United Nations denounced arbitrary detention and torture during the investigation. “Historical truth” eventually became synonymous with the perception of corruption and impunity under Peña Nieto as anger grew over the lack of answers. Murillo, who was previously a federal lawmaker and governor of Hidalgo state, resigned in 2015 as criticism mounted over his handling of the case. The lawyer for the parents of the Ayotzinapa students, Vidulfo Rosales, urged the government to make more arrests. He told Mexican television: “There is still a lot left to think that this case has been solved.”

title: “Mexico S Former Attorney General Arrested In 2014 Disappearance Of 43 Schoolgirls Mexico Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Joel Greene”

Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday on charges of enforced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the kidnapping and disappearance of the student-teachers in the southwestern state of Guerrero, now considered a “state-sponsored crime.” Murillo was transferred to the attorney general’s office and will be transferred to a prison in Mexico City, authorities said. Within hours of the arrest, a judge issued 83 more arrest warrants for soldiers, police, Guerrero officials and gang members in connection with the case, the attorney general’s office said. During Murillo’s 2012-2015 term under then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, he oversaw the investigation into the September 26, 2014 disappearance of students from the rural college of Ayotzinapa that was criticized. Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images The remains of only three students were found and identified, and questions remain unanswered ever since. International experts said the official investigation was riddled with errors and abuses, including the torture of witnesses. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018 pledging to clarify what had happened. The López Obrador administration has tried since 2020 to arrest another top former official, Tomas Zeron, including asking Israel last year to extradite him. When asked about the government’s move to scrutinize the previous investigation, Murillo said he was pleased and open to questioning, local media reported in 2020. Murillo was taken into custody wearing black pants, his hands folded in the pockets of a gray jacket, as a police officer with a rifle slung across his chest stood behind him, according to an image published by local media. The attorney general’s office said Murillo cooperated “without resistance.” The arrest comes a day after Mexico’s top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, called the disappearances a “state crime” involving local, state and federal officials. “What happened? An enforced disappearance of the boys that night by government authorities and criminal groups,” Encinas told a news conference. The highest levels of Peña Nieto’s administration orchestrated a cover-up, he said, including changing crime scenes and concealing links between authorities and criminals. Murillo took over the Ayotzinapa case in 2014 and called the government’s findings “historical truth.” According to this version, a local drug gang bypassed the students with members of a rival gang, killed them, burned their bodies in a landfill and dumped the remains in a river. A panel of international experts picked holes in the account, and the United Nations denounced arbitrary detention and torture during the investigation. “Historical truth” eventually became synonymous with the perception of corruption and impunity under Peña Nieto as anger grew over the lack of answers. Murillo, who was previously a federal lawmaker and governor of Hidalgo state, resigned in 2015 as criticism mounted over his handling of the case. The lawyer for the parents of the Ayotzinapa students, Vidulfo Rosales, urged the government to make more arrests. He told Mexican television: “There is still a lot left to think that this case has been solved.”

title: “Mexico S Former Attorney General Arrested In 2014 Disappearance Of 43 Schoolgirls Mexico Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-05” author: “Paul Snover”

Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday on charges of enforced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the kidnapping and disappearance of the student-teachers in the southwestern state of Guerrero, now considered a “state-sponsored crime.” Murillo was transferred to the attorney general’s office and will be transferred to a prison in Mexico City, authorities said. Within hours of the arrest, a judge issued 83 more arrest warrants for soldiers, police, Guerrero officials and gang members in connection with the case, the attorney general’s office said. During Murillo’s 2012-2015 term under then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, he oversaw the investigation into the September 26, 2014 disappearance of students from the rural college of Ayotzinapa that was criticized. Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images The remains of only three students were found and identified, and questions remain unanswered ever since. International experts said the official investigation was riddled with errors and abuses, including the torture of witnesses. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018 pledging to clarify what had happened. The López Obrador administration has tried since 2020 to arrest another top former official, Tomas Zeron, including asking Israel last year to extradite him. When asked about the government’s move to scrutinize the previous investigation, Murillo said he was pleased and open to questioning, local media reported in 2020. Murillo was taken into custody wearing black pants, his hands folded in the pockets of a gray jacket, as a police officer with a rifle slung across his chest stood behind him, according to an image published by local media. The attorney general’s office said Murillo cooperated “without resistance.” The arrest comes a day after Mexico’s top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, called the disappearances a “state crime” involving local, state and federal officials. “What happened? An enforced disappearance of the boys that night by government authorities and criminal groups,” Encinas told a news conference. The highest levels of Peña Nieto’s administration orchestrated a cover-up, he said, including changing crime scenes and concealing links between authorities and criminals. Murillo took over the Ayotzinapa case in 2014 and called the government’s findings “historical truth.” According to this version, a local drug gang bypassed the students with members of a rival gang, killed them, burned their bodies in a landfill and dumped the remains in a river. A panel of international experts picked holes in the account, and the United Nations denounced arbitrary detention and torture during the investigation. “Historical truth” eventually became synonymous with the perception of corruption and impunity under Peña Nieto as anger grew over the lack of answers. Murillo, who was previously a federal lawmaker and governor of Hidalgo state, resigned in 2015 as criticism mounted over his handling of the case. The lawyer for the parents of the Ayotzinapa students, Vidulfo Rosales, urged the government to make more arrests. He told Mexican television: “There is still a lot left to think that this case has been solved.”

title: “Mexico S Former Attorney General Arrested In 2014 Disappearance Of 43 Schoolgirls Mexico Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-09” author: “Robert Obrien”

Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday on charges of enforced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the kidnapping and disappearance of the student-teachers in the southwestern state of Guerrero, now considered a “state-sponsored crime.” Murillo was transferred to the attorney general’s office and will be transferred to a prison in Mexico City, authorities said. Within hours of the arrest, a judge issued 83 more arrest warrants for soldiers, police, Guerrero officials and gang members in connection with the case, the attorney general’s office said. During Murillo’s 2012-2015 term under then-president Enrique Peña Nieto, he oversaw the investigation into the September 26, 2014 disappearance of students from the rural college of Ayotzinapa that was criticized. Jesus Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City on Friday. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images The remains of only three students were found and identified, and questions remain unanswered ever since. International experts said the official investigation was riddled with errors and abuses, including the torture of witnesses. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018 pledging to clarify what had happened. The López Obrador administration has tried since 2020 to arrest another top former official, Tomas Zeron, including asking Israel last year to extradite him. When asked about the government’s move to scrutinize the previous investigation, Murillo said he was pleased and open to questioning, local media reported in 2020. Murillo was taken into custody wearing black pants, his hands folded in the pockets of a gray jacket, as a police officer with a rifle slung across his chest stood behind him, according to an image published by local media. The attorney general’s office said Murillo cooperated “without resistance.” The arrest comes a day after Mexico’s top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, called the disappearances a “state crime” involving local, state and federal officials. “What happened? An enforced disappearance of the boys that night by government authorities and criminal groups,” Encinas told a news conference. The highest levels of Peña Nieto’s administration orchestrated a cover-up, he said, including changing crime scenes and concealing links between authorities and criminals. Murillo took over the Ayotzinapa case in 2014 and called the government’s findings “historical truth.” According to this version, a local drug gang bypassed the students with members of a rival gang, killed them, burned their bodies in a landfill and dumped the remains in a river. A panel of international experts picked holes in the account, and the United Nations denounced arbitrary detention and torture during the investigation. “Historical truth” eventually became synonymous with the perception of corruption and impunity under Peña Nieto as anger grew over the lack of answers. Murillo, who was previously a federal lawmaker and governor of Hidalgo state, resigned in 2015 as criticism mounted over his handling of the case. The lawyer for the parents of the Ayotzinapa students, Vidulfo Rosales, urged the government to make more arrests. He told Mexican television: “There is still a lot left to think that this case has been solved.”