Brad Will’s tragic death and the subsequent unwarranted arrest of Juan Martinez have served to highlight Mexico’s human rights abuses and broken criminal justice system. Brad Will, a video journalist, was filming a confrontation between protesters and local police when he was shot. Juan Martinez had been wrongly detained for his murder since October 2008. AmnestyInternational believes he was being used as a scapegoat. Mexican authorities must investigate who really killed Brad Will.
No one has been brought to justice for any of the killings that took place during the 2006 Oaxaca protests. Amnesty International demands an investigation into the abuses committed by the security forces during violent political protests in the Mexican state of Oaxaca in 2006 when Brad Will and at least 17 others, most of them political activists, were killed.
Amnesty International is also concerned about Juan Manuel’s safety, and urges the Mexican authorities to ensure his safety and offer him appropriate compensation for the unnecessary suffering he has experienced as a result of his wrongful imprisonment by the authorities.