Mexican colonel convicted in army secrets case


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


Mexican colonel convicted in army secrets case

May 26, 1999 Web posted at: 8:27 PM EDT (0027 GMT) 

GUADALAJARA (Reuters) -- A Mexican army colonel cleared of charges that he
leaked military secrets to a political magazine was sentenced by a military
court to five years in jail Wednesday for other crimes, his attorney said.

Col. Pedro Castellanos, who had worked in army intelligence, was convicted
in a trial lasting less than 24 hours of breaching army discipline and abuse
of office, his attorney Cuauhtemoc Sotelo told Reuters.

But he was found not guilty of charges he fed military secrets to the
national weekly newsmagazine Proceso, the most severe charge he faced,
Sotelo said.

Castellanos, 50, was arrested in April 1997 after Proceso published an
article on links between the Mexican army and drug trafficking.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and Proceso journalists have said
Castellanos was not a source for their story.

Members of the military tribunal, based outside the western city of
Guadalajara, were not available for comment.

Sotelo said he would appeal the conviction to the Supreme Military Tribunal,
the armed forces highest judicial body.

Copyright 1999 Reuters. 
 
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