PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 41/027/2009

29 May 2009

Further Information on UA 112/09 (AMR 41/022/2009, 27 April 2009) Enforced disappearance/Fear for safety

MEXICO Daniel Rueda Becerril (m), aged16

José Alfredo Arroyo Juárez (m), aged 23

Samuel Teroga Rodríguez (m), aged 19

Pablo Domínguez Montiel (m), aged 22

The bodies of the four people namedabove were found on 5 May in a deep ravine in the town of Pilcaya, Guerrero state, about 60 kilometres from Cuernavaca, Morelos state, from where they were abducted on 18 April.

The three young men and the juvenile were attacked and abducted by an off-duty Cuernavaca police officer and other unidentified men. Witnesses have stated that other police cars also appeared at the scene but did not intervene. They later claimed that they were told by the off-duty police officer that he was carrying out an arrest.

Despite the fact that the three men and the juvenile were not taken to any police station or prosecutor’s office, representatives of the State Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado) refused to take immediate action on a missing person report filed by the families of the disappeared, wasting critical time. An arrest warrant has been issued for the off-duty police officer, but the authorities have so far failed to locate him or to establish whether any other police officers were implicated in the abduction and killing of the four victims.

Many thanks to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network at present. Amnesty International will take further action on this case as necessary.