Jesus Murillo Karam, who is accused of leading a botched investigation into the case, will be tried on charges of forced disappearance of 43 students in 2014, torture and obstruction of justice, authorities say.
Mexico's top human rights official says government role in the disappearance –– including local, state and federal officials –– constituted a "state crime."
(AFP)
A Mexican judge has agreed to hear the charges against the country's former attorney general Jesus Murillo in relation to his alleged role in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, judicial authorities said.
Jesus Murillo Karam, who led a highly contentious investigation into the case, will be tried on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice, the Federal Judiciary Council said on Wednesday after a court hearing.
Murillo Karam, a former heavyweight of the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was arrested earlier this week and is the highest-ranking official detained so far in connection with the case, which shocked the nation and generated international condemnation.
He is considered the architect of the so-called "historical truth" version of events presented in 2015 by the government of then-president Enrique Pena Nieto that was widely rejected, including by relatives.
The teaching students had commandeered buses in the southern state of Guerrero to travel to a demonstration in Mexico City before they went missing.
Investigators say they were detained by corrupt police and handed over to a drug cartel that mistook them for members of a rival gang, but exactly what happened to them has been hotly disputed.
According to the official report presented in 2015, cartel members killed the students and incinerated their remains at a garbage dump.
Those conclusions were rejected by independent experts and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the families.
Commission blames military
Last week, a truth commission determined that military personnel bore responsibility, either directly or through negligence, in the disappearance of students.
"Their actions, omissions or participation allowed the disappearance and execution of the students, as well as the murder of six other people," said the commission's head, deputy interior minister Alejandro Encinas, on Thursday.
Mexico's top human rights official, Alejandro Encinas, has said that government involvement in the disappearance –– including local, state and federal officials –– constituted a "state crime."
In the aftermath, the last government "concealed the truth of the facts, altered crime scenes, covered up the links between authorities with a criminal group."
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in March that navy members were under investigation for allegedly tampering with evidence, notably at a garbage dump where human remains were found, including those of the only three students identified so far.
He denied an accusation by independent experts that Mexican authorities were withholding important information about the case, which shocked the country and drew international condemnation.
Source: Reuters
Argentina's prosecutor alleged the influential left-wing Kirchner of defrauding the state and involvement in a scheme to divert public funds while president between 2007 and 2015.
Argentine Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner attends Argentina's state energy company YPF centennial celebrations, at the Tecnopolis Park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 3, 2022.
(Reuters)
Argentina's public prosecutor has asked that Vice President Cristina Kirchner be sentenced to 12 years in prison and disqualified from public office for life for alleged corruption during her two terms as president.
Kirchner, 69, is accused of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her fiefdom in Patagonia, but even if convicted she would not go to jail so long as she benefits from parliamentary immunity as an elected senator. Kirchner is among the leaders of the governing Justicialist Party.
A verdict is expected at the end of the year.
There are two ways she could lose her parliamentary immunity: either by losing her senate seat at the next election, or if the Supreme Court were to ratify an eventual guilty verdict.
Minutes after public prosecutor Diego Luciani's request was made public, the office of President Alberto Fernandez issued a statement condemning "the judicial and media persecution" of Kirchner.
"None of the actions attributed to the ex-president has been proved and the whole accusation is based purely on the function she exercised at that time, which sadly degrades the most basic principles of modern criminal law."
Another 12 people are also accused of involvement in the illicit attribution of public works contracts in the southern Santa Cruz province in favour of businessman Lazaro Baez.
READ MORE: Argentina's Fernandez faces inflation protests by party supporters'Institutional corruption'
The period investigated includes Kirchner's eight years in office from 2007 to 2015 and the preceding four years when her late husband Nestor Kirchner, who died in 2010, was president.
Luciani hit out at "an authentic system of institutional corruption" which he said was "probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known."
Sergio Mola, another public prosecutor, said "there were systematic irregularities in the tenders over a 12-year period."
"The evidence clearly demonstrates illicit manoeuvres," added Mola, who said the defendants had sought to defraud the state through "discretion in the use of funds."
"It is not credible that Cristina Fernandez (Kirchner) would not have known about anything in the solitude of her office," said Mola.
Highly divisive but still popular amongst the left, Kirchner has long proclaimed her innocence and accused the prosecutor's office of political persecution and "lawfare" — the use of legal systems or institutions to discredit an opponent.
She has been investigated in recent years in a dozen different cases for crimes such as bribery, money laundering, speculative damage to the state and obstruction of justice.
Several of those have been dismissed but five remain active.
Source: AFP
Ex-attorney general Jesus Murillo faces charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in 2014 disappearance of dozens of students.
Jesus Murillo oversaw botched investigation into disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Guerrero state.
(AFP Archive)
Mexico has arrested a former attorney general who led a controversial investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in 2014 –– one of the country's worst human rights tragedies.
Jesus Murillo Karam, a former heavyweight of the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was arrested for the crimes of forced disappearance, torture and perverting justice, the attorney general's office said on Friday.
Murillo Karam is the highest-ranking official detained so far in connection with the case, which shocked the nation and generated international condemnation.
He is considered the architect of the so-called "historical truth" version of events presented in 2015 by the government of then-president Enrique Pena Nieto that was widely rejected, including by relatives.
The teaching students had commandeered buses in the southern state of Guerrero to travel to a demonstration in Mexico City before they went missing.
Investigators say they were detained by corrupt police and handed over to a drug cartel that mistook them for members of a rival gang, but exactly what happened to them has been hotly disputed.
According to the official report presented in 2015, cartel members killed the students and incinerated their remains at a garbage dump.
Those conclusions were rejected by independent experts and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the families.
'State crime'
On Thursday, a truth commission investigating the atrocity branded the case a "state crime" involving agents of various institutions.
It said that military personnel bore at least partial responsibility, either directly or through negligence.
"Their actions, omissions or participation allowed the disappearance and execution of the students, as well as the murder of six other people," said the commission's head, deputy interior minister Alejandro Encinas.
Further investigations were necessary to establish the extent to which members of the armed forces participated, he said.
"An action of an institutional nature was not proven, but there was clear responsibility of members" of the armed forces, Encinas added.
The "historical truth" did not attribute any responsibility to military personnel.
Lopez Obrador promises justice
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that any soldiers and officials involved in the disappearance must face justice.
"Publicising this atrocious, inhuman situation, and at the same time punishing those responsible, helps to prevent these deplorable events ever happening again" and "strengthens institutions," Lopez Obrador said.
"We said from the beginning that we were going to speak the truth, no matter how painful it was," he told reporters during a visit to the northwestern border city of Tijuana.
Lopez Obrador said in March that navy members were under investigation for allegedly tampering with evidence, notably at a garbage dump where human remains were found, including those of the only three students identified so far.
He denied an accusation by independent experts that Mexican authorities were withholding important information about the case.
The Florida prosecutor who was suspended by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis for his refusal to charge doctors or abortion patients for illegally terminating pregnancies is vowing to put up a "vigorous defense" legally.
DeSantis suspended Andrew Warren, a Democrat state attorney, on Aug. 4 during a news conference where he said that the prosecutor didn't enforce duly-passed laws that crack down on child sex change surgeries and certain abortion procedures.
"We had the individual here from Hillsborough County say and [sign] letters that there are certain laws he just won't enforce and won't prosecute," DeSantis told Fox News. "[State's] attorneys that put their ideology over the rule of law are not satisfying their oath of office."
Without providing specifics, Warren said on Sunday that he would fight the suspension.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren talks to a voter during the NAACP Hillsborough County Branch Souls to the Polls voter drive on November 1, 2020, in Tampa, Florida.
(Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
"I'm not going down without a fight. I'm a former federal prosecutor, the duly elected state attorney, a native Floridian and a proud American. I refuse to let this man trample on your freedoms, to speak your mind, to make your own health care decisions, and to have your vote count. I hope you'll stand with me," Warren said.
Warren was elected in 2016 and 2020.
In the video, Warren said that the governor is attempting to overthrow an election.
The Florida prosecutor who was suspended by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis for his refusal to charge doctors or abortion patients for illegally terminating their pregnancy is vowing to put up a "vigorous defense" legally.
(REUTERS/Joe Skipper)
"Ron DeSantis is trying to overthrow democracy in Florida. His plot to suspend me blatantly violates the most fundamental basis of our democracy. Your vote. He's trying to overturn the results of a fair and free election in abusing his power to serve his own political ambition," he said.
A press release from DeSantis' office states that he "has the authority to suspend a state officer under Article IV, Section 7 of the Constitution of the State of Florida."
After suspending Warren, DeSantis appointed Hillsborough County Court Judge Susan Lopez as his replacement.
"It is my duty to hold Florida’s elected officials to the highest standards for the people of Florida. I have the utmost trust that Judge Susan Lopez will lead the office through this transition and faithfully uphold the rule of law," DeSantis said in the press release.
A law in Florida banning abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions such as if an abortion is needed to save a mother's life, cases of rape or incest, and more went into effect on July 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.
An Illinois prosecutor took Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to task in a scathing, office-wide resignation letter, saying her office cares more about political narratives than crime victims.
Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy said he "can't continue to work for an administration I don't respect," in his letter resigning his position after 25 years of service. His last day was Friday, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News.
"I wish I could stay," he wrote. "However, I can no longer work for this Administration. I have zero confidence in leadership."
Fox News has reached out to Foxx's office but has not received a response.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. An attorney in her officer issued a scathing resignation letter Friday blasting Foxx and her policies.
(Cook County State's Attorney)
Murphy cited a number of reasons for his departure, including the "Safe-T Act," a measure that requires prosecutors to present a higher burden of proof to hold accused criminals until trial.
While Murphy said he supports eliminating cash-bail, he said Foxx's office rushed the reform and that his concerns were brushed aside. Murphy also cited "dangerously" low staffing levels in all units and bureaus in Foxx's office, to the point where one or two-person courtrooms are now common.
"If this administration was truly concerned with effectively fighting violent crime, then they would fully staff those courtrooms and units," he wrote. "Meanwhile the rest of us are overworked, overstressed, and under-resourced. But at least we were allowed to wear jeans in July."
Murphy said Foxx was angry one day several months ago when he was summoned into a meeting about bond hearings he was involved in. One involved a "massive shootout" and the other a woman who was gunned down walking to a store after being caught in the crossfire.
Murphy said Foxx was upset about a newspaper headline that indicated the suspect would not face a murder charge under the Safe-T Act. He said Foxx appeared to be more upset with the headline than the fact that a woman had died.
"That is what is wrong with this administration. I've seen day after day," he said. "How many mass shootings do there have to be before something is done."
"This administration is more concerned with political narratives and agendas than with victims and prosecuting violent crime," he added. "That is why I can't stay any longer."
US State Department has called on Ukraine's leadership to appoint a transparent successor to the sacked prosecutor as the country was criticised for managing corruption.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands at the podium during a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 3, 2022.
(AP)
The United States has urged Ukraine to pick a credible top prosecutor to replace one sacked by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling for action on corruption even as Kiev battles Russia.
"We join the people of Ukraine in emphasizing the importance of transparently appointing a highly qualified and truly independent successor as prosecutor general," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday.
"The independence and impartiality of the prosecutor general is vital to ensuring the integrity of accountability efforts in Ukraine," he said.
Price said that the fight against corruption, long a major concern in Ukraine, was critical as the country seeks membership in the European Union.
"Corruption must be combated even as Ukraine defends itself against Russia's war of aggression. Russia's war against Ukraine poses an external threat. Corruption poses an internal threat," he said.
Zelensky announced earlier this month that he was firing prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova as well as security chief Ivan Bakanov.
Zelensky cited the need to act against suspected treason by officials supporting Russia.
The president had been critical of the two senior figures' performance even before Russia's incursion on February 24.
The United States, which has poured billions of dollars into Ukraine to help it repel Russia, has a memorable history of addressing corruption in Ukraine.
President Joe Biden, while serving as vice president, demanded on a trip to Kiev that Ukraine fire an earlier prosecutor general seen as ineffective in fighting corruption, warning that the United States would otherwise withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees.
The episode became the source of allegations by former president Donald Trump, who was impeached for withholding security aid to Ukraine unless Zelenskyy agreed to dig up dirt on Biden.
