Jesus Estrada
Correspondent
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, August 13, 2024, p. 13
Chihuahua, Chih., Control Judge Víctor Manlio Hernández Calderón, of the Federal Criminal Justice Center, declared inadmissible the request of the commissioner of the National Migration Institute (INM), Francisco Garduño Yáñez, to suspend the criminal proceedings he faces for the alleged crime of improper exercise of public service.
Garduño attempted for the second time to absolve himself of responsibility for the fire at the Ciudad Juárez immigration detention center that occurred on March 27, 2023, in which 40 migrants died and another 27 were injured.
The hearing in which the official’s lawyers sought to propose an alternative solution to the process was held yesterday, but was suspended 30 minutes after it began because the judge considered that the request was inadmissible due to various appeals filed by the victims of the fire, pending resolution.
According to the judge and the migrants’ litigants, these appeals are filed in a Collegiate Court of Appeals; in addition, there is a request to bring the case to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation that was presented in June.
The appeal is against the criminal prosecution of Garduño Yáñez for improper exercise of public service, since it is considered that he can be accused of other crimes such as homicide and injuries, explained the civil organization Fundación para la Justicia, which represents the foreigners.
The defense of the head of the INM did not present the compensation plan for damages and the reparation agreement with which he proposes to close the criminal process, which was managed in his favor by the Federal Executive Commission for Attention to Victims with the argument that he is not directly responsible for the crimes, but that there are other people involved, so whoever agrees to this alternative exit does not imply that those directly responsible are absolved of responsibility
the NGO reported.
