Iván Evair Saldaña
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, p. 10
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) yesterday revoked the sentence that acquitted and allowed the release of Jhoan Ricardo Matus Marcial, former legal advisor of the City Council of Asunción Nochixtlán, Oaxaca, sentenced to 50 years in prison for the forced disappearance of human rights defender Claudia Uruchurtu.
With this decision, the country’s highest court established mandatory standards for judges to evaluate cases of crimes against humanity against defenders, applying a gender and intersectionality perspective, that is, considering how different forms of discrimination and inequality simultaneously affect the victim.
By a unanimous vote of eight, the plenary session approved the project of Minister Arístides Guerrero García, promoted by Uruchurtu’s family, against the release of the former official identified by the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office – along with the then mayor Lizbeth Victoria Huerta – responsible for the disappearance of the activist, which occurred on March 27, 2021 after a protest and who remains unlocated.
Matus Marcial was released on August 21 by decision of a collegiate court, which considered the evidence insufficient beyond what a witness said.
Special risks
The Court overturned that resolution, noting that the special risks faced by women activists in contexts of corruption and abuse of power were ignored.
“It is proposed to revoke the contested ruling and return the matter to the collegiate court so that it can carry out specialized judicial scrutiny with a gender and intersectionality perspective, and thus issue a new decision in accordance with the law,” said the speaker.
Minister Yasmín Esquivel highlighted that the gender approach in the Court does not seek to condemn, but rather to strengthen the quality and solidity of judicial reasoning.
Minister Giovanni Figueroa highlighted that a clear message is sent against impunity in crimes against humanity, by establishing criteria to evaluate evidence in cases of human rights defenders, while Minister Loretta Ortiz Ahlf stressed that the victim is in the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons, which has more than 133,518 cases, and emphasized the need to apply the highest national and international standards in human rights.
