In Mexico, the practice of making arbitrary use of the criminal justice system against people who denounce and investigate human rights violations, and who support the victims of these violations in their search for justice, truth and full compensation for damages has become the norm. This is what Amnesty International Mexico warns in its latest report Persecuted: criminalization of women human rights defenders in Mexico.

The report, released today, documents the cases of lawyer Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, journalist Marcela Turati Muñoz and forensic anthropologist Mercedes Doretti, who were subjected to unlawful investigation and surveillance by the Mexican state for the alleged offences of organized crime and kidnapping.

Involvement of the authorities took place without sufficient evidence to link the three defenders to any of the alleged offences. The investigation and surveillance occurred when they were working in their different fields to shed light on the massacres of people of different nationalities uncovered in August 2012 and April 2011 in San Fernando, Tamaulipas.

Although the investigation and surveillance date from 2016, it is not known whether they are both still ongoing. This uncertainty, which has persisted for eight years, has put the three human rights defenders in a situation of defencelessness, given the constant threat of continued unlawful use of the justice system and investigation without basic standards of due process being guaranteed.

“Amnesty International has voiced concern on several occasions regarding the serious human rights crisis unfolding in Mexico. In this context, the case of Ana Lorena, Marcela and Mercedes is emblematic of how the Mexican state makes arbitrary use of the criminal justice system to persecute, intimidate, and criminalize human rights defenders,” said Edith Olivares Ferreto, Executive Director at Amnesty International Mexico.

“With this type of persecution, the Mexican authorities are instilling fear not only in these three women defenders, but also in other human rights defenders who have every right to contribute through their work to the protection of human rights. It is inconceivable that anyone should be criminally prosecuted as a result of these efforts. The three levels of government have an obligation to ensure that human rights are upheld and not to deepen impunity,” Edith Olivares Ferreto said.

Read the full article about the surveillance of women human rights defenders at Amnesty International.