Arbitrary detentions in Chiapas June 2/Bartolome Center Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Human Rights Center +Fray Bartolome de las Casas;, A.C. San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, 2nd of June, 1999 Press Release The Center for Indigenous Rights AC (Bachajon), the Committee for the Defence of Inidgenous Freedom, (Palenque), and the Human Rights Center, Fray Bartolome de las Casas, (San Cristobal de las Casas) express their concern for the following arbitrary arrests and for the physical abuse that were made in the Pinyal Crossroads which is located at the boundaries of the municipalities of Chilon, Ocosingo and Palenque. At about 2:00 pm on the first of june, 1999, the bus on which Manuel Perez Constantino was travelling was stopped at the Pinyal Crossroads by a group of about 200 militants of the PRI (Party of the Institutional Revolution) who were protesting about a roadblock that Zapatista sympathizers had erected the day before. Manuel Perez, who is a coordinator of the indigenous organization +Xi'nich; (The Ant), was recognized and forced the get off the bus by two members of the rural police from San Jeronimo Tulija. Once he was off the bus three other policemen beat him and handed him over to the mob who interrogated him and then blamed for organizing the previous day's roadblock. An hour later, Jeronimo Hernandez Lopez, a jesuit priest and advisor to Xi'Nich, arrived at the crossroads in his car and was also detained. Some of the members of the PRI recognized him and began to abuse him verbally, acusing him of being a Zapatista. Meanwhile, another more aggressive group tried to get him out of his car, and yet another tried to calm the situation down. Finally, Fr. Hernandez was taken to a nearby house where he was interrogated. He realized then that there were present members of the Public Security Police (PSP), of the Public Prosecuter's office (Bachajon and Yajalon), of the municipal authorites and of a person who presented himself as a representative of the Secretary for the Interior (Secretaria de Gobierno, Chiapas). Some hours later, the PSP offered to accompany Mr. Perez and Fr. Hernandez in leaving the community. Manuel Perez got into Fr. Hernandez's car but the mob insisted on his travelling in the PSP's vehicle and they dragged him out of the car with blows and he was put into the other vehicle in which were elements of the PSP and of the State Judicial Police (PJE, for the words in Spanish). When Fr. Hernandez asked why Manuel could not travel with him, a member of the Public Prosecuter's Office replied that they would take him not under arrest but as someone required for questioning. Jesus Hernandez Gutierrez was also detained in the PSP's vehicle. When they arrived at the Palenque Crossroad, Fr. Hernandez was freed but the other two were taken in the PSP vehicle to Yajalon. During this part of the journey, a member of the PJE beat Manuel Perez and made death threats against him, abusing him almost the whole way, a journey of several hours. As Human Rights Centers, we not only denounce the arbitrary nature of these detentions, but also the free use of violence on the part of the PRI sympathizers with the approval of the authorities present on the scene, and the inhuman treatment of the detained persons during the journey to Yajalon. Manuel Perez and Jesus Hernandez still remain in detention for +questioning; 24 hours after their illegal detention. We demand that the authorities give due cause for their detention or that they be immediately released. FRANCISCO LESN # 5. COLONIA CENTRO. C.P. 29200. SAN CRISTSBAL DE LAS CASAS., CHIAPAS, MIXICO. APARTADO POSTAL 178. C.P. 29200. SAN CRISTSBAL DE LAS CASAS. TELIFONO (967) 83548. FAX (967) 83551 cdhbcasas@laneta.apc.org http://www.laneta.apc.org/cdhbcasas/ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-06.09.99-21:46:58-18452