Priority Cases
THE WOMEN OF ATENCO--ASSAULTED BY THE POLICE
MEXICO
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When the women left their homes that May morning in 2006, they never imagined the horrific experience that lay ahead of them. During a police operation in response to protests by a local peasant organization in San Salvador Atenco, more than 45 women were arrested without explanation. Dozens of them were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual violence by the police officers who arrested them.
In the case of one of the women, Bárbara Italia Méndez, police officers pulled her hair, beat her, and forced her into a state police vehicle with her shirt pulled over her head. She was made to lie on top of other detainees, and during the journey to the prison, police officers sexually assaulted her repeatedly. Once at the "Santiaguito" prison near Toluca in Mexico State, the prison doctors who examined many of the women failed to document all their physical injuries or to gather evidence of the sexual abuse they had suffered.
More than three years later, these brave survivors are still waiting for justice. None of the officials responsible for their abuse have been held accountable.
Federal authorities had conducted an investigation that resulted in a list of 34 names of police officers who were suspected of being responsible for the abuses, but the federal authorities recently concluded that these individuals should be prosecuted at the state level. Now is the time to push for real justice and ask the Governor of Mexico State not to let this impunity continue.
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