Justice unviewed is justice denied

MEXICO CITY – A judge has ordered theaters to stop showing the highest-grossing documentary in Mexico’s history, “Presunto culpable,” a film that tells the story of the arrest and conviction of a young man who was innocent, the Government Secretariat said.

“The order issued by a district judge temporarily halting the authorization to show the documentary ‘Presunto culpable’ will be obeyed,” the secretariat said.

Members of the public and some legislators have expressed outrage after watching the documentary, which tells the story of Antonio “Toño” Zuñiga, who was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

The judge’s restraining order is based on a claim by Victor Daniel Reyes Bravo, who was a witness in the trial (the ONLY witness, as it happens) — a minor at the time who claims his parents never authorized the filming. Whether the order will stand isn’t clear, but what is clear is that there is a vested interest in NOT reforming the justice system, and keeping the Mexican public in the dark about the dismal court procedures here.

There is an argument that implementing the reforms would interfere with prosecution of the U.S. proxy war on Mexicans (er… war on drugs… er… “battle against organized crime”.  This seems a nonsensical issue to me.  The reforms are modeled on the Italian court system, which is also based in Napoleonic Law and was updated to allow for more open public trials while Italy was simultanously prosecuting a violent war against the Mafia (which, by the way, made the mayhem here look minor by comparison… the Mafiosi going in for things like blowing up entire apartment blocks to kill single government officials).