Case Updates

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATAIONS AGAINST POCs CONFIRMED BY MEXICAN GOVERNMENT
By Diego Zavala
AIUSA Country Group Volunteer

April 7 of this year was an important day for the human rights and environmental organizations actively involved in the efforts to have environmental defenders Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia released from prison. That day, with a freshly printed AI document that declared Rodolfo and Teodoro Prisoners of Conscience, I met the Attorney General of the Republic of Mexico, Dr. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar. This was an opportunity to appeal directly to the highest judicial authority in Mexico to undo an injustice.

Jorge Madrazo Cuellar listened to us intently and barked orders to his assistants "to review immediately" and "to analyse promptly" the circumstances we were describing around the long list of human rights violations against Rodolfo and Teodoro. The meeting ended with a promise by the Attorney General to "intervene directly, if necessary, in this case." I left encouraged, thinking that perhaps the man I met in 1992 as a representative of the government's National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH in Spanish) may have retained some sensitivity towards survivors of human rights violations and a sense for justice.

Subsequent to this meeting, AIUSA and its partner Sierra Club sent two follow up letters to Madrazo, never receiving a reply. The matter couldn't be more urgent. A series of highly irregular court procedures in May and June left the lawyers of the environmentalists dumbfounded. The prosecutor was allowed to provide requested documents by the court after an important deadline had passed. The federal prosecutor suggested that the charges were going to be dropped, but reversed course soon after. By June 28 the Attorney General's office stated that after reviewing the case, "we are fully convinced that in no way have the persons charged been tortured. Likewise, the time of detention, from the arrest to the moment of being placed under the jurisdiction of the Public Ministry cannot be considered as excessive.... in this case (the attorney general) is completely sure that no rights were violated."

This statement is clearly contradicted by the CNDH July 14 Recommendation 8/2000 where it is acknowledged that the two POCs were illegally detained by the army and not armed at the time. In addition, the recommendation finds that the army's accusations were fabricated and that the men were indeed tortured.

The response of the Attorney General's Office in the case of Rodolfo and Teodoro is nothing less than shameful. The highest judicial authority in Mexico has ignored Article 8 of Mexico's Federal Law to Prevent and Punish Torture, which prohibits the use of confessions and information obtained under torture as evidence in court. The judicial proceedings against Rodolfo and Teodoro are illegal and therefore the charges against them should be dismissed. They must be immediately and unconditionally released.

During all this time, Rodolfo and Teodoro's ordeal continues. They have recently been through a series of harassment episodes in jail. They were placed in the shower room for several nights where the showers were turned on leaving them wet and cold until morning. In a crude attempt to turn other prisoners against the two men, telephone privileges were suspended, and prisoners were told that it was Rodolfo and Teodoro's fault.

Update and Next Steps
On August 28, the Fifth District Judge of Iguala, Guerrero convicted Rodolfo and Teodoro to 6 year 8 month and 10 year prison sentences respectivley. The pressure to release them must be increased. Write to President Ernesto Zedillo and demand that the Rodolfo and Teodoro be immediately and unconditionally released. The election of President-elect Vicente Fox on July 2 provides an excellent opportunity to write him as well. Ask that he speak out on behalf of the two men and announce his commitment to protecting the rights of environmental activists.

CHAD
PROFILE OF A DEFENDER - DELPHINE DJIRAIBE
By Emilie Thenard
Center for International Environmental Law

Delphine Djiraibe

In 1997, Delphine Djiraibe, a human rights lawyer in Chad, heard about her government's plans to drill oil in the area where she grew up, the Doba Bassin. The project, known as the "Chad-Cameroon Pipeline," was kept very secret by the authorities. Delphine learned that an international oil consortium and both governments would drill over 300 wells in the breadbasket of Chad and lay pipelines through Chad and Cameroon to the Kribi Coast. Though this project has been promoted by the World Bank and other sponsors as the only way for Chad to emerge from its dire poverty, she questioned what impact the project would have on people in the area. Nigeria's brutal history with Shell and Chevron just next door was well known.

As the founder and president of the Chadian Association for the Protection and Defense of Human Rights, Delphine had been working for many years on strengthening respect for human rights in a country where independent justice and freedom of expression do not exist, where torture, rape and extra-judicial killings are frequent occurrences, and where a civil war is still raging. She feared that without adequate safeguards the Chad-Cameroon project could lead to wide-scale human rights abuses. Her fears were soon confirmed when government forces massacred over 200 people in the Doba region in an effort to "impose peace" so oil extraction could proceed.

Delphine became a determined advocate for the local communities. Though her work had mainly focused on traditional human rights issues, in understanding the threats the pipeline would create for the local people and their homeland, she also became a defender of the environment. In Chad, where all people depend on nature for their vital needs, she realized that when the natural environment is destroyed, their rights are inevitably violated.

Since then Delphine has been a relentless organizer of the local efforts and a spokesperson for those who were afraid to speak out against this project. She channeled the mobilization in the region, initiated advocacy efforts, contacted international activists to express concerns and suggest solutions, disseminated information and worked with northern NGOs to lobby the World Bank and other institutions involved in this project - despite the great personal risks her advocacy brought upon her.