URGENT ACTION

MEXICAN STUDENT BEATEN UNCONSCIOUS

Sixteen-year-old student José Emiliano Nandayapa Gomez was beaten unconscious by police officers in Chiapas state, southern Mexico. When he tried to file a complaint, he and his relatives were intimidated, attacked and chased by police. They are in danger of further retaliation if they pursue their complaint.

According to José Emiliano Nandayapa, at 2am on 27 June, he was walking to his home in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, when he was searched by municipal police officers as part of a routine check. Minutes later another five municipal police officers forced him onto the back of a pickup truck. For about an hour, three officers kicked and punched him, and stepped on his back, head and legs. The police said, “what a lovely subversive haircut you have, here’s your revolution, get the weapons and the drugs out” (Que bonito peinado subversivo tienes, ahi esta tu revolución, saca las armas y las drogas). They told him “if you keep on the same path, you won’t live to tell the tale” (si sigues en lo que andas no lo vas a contar). They then kicked him in the face, and he lost consciousness.

When he and his family filed a complaint with the local Public Prosecutor’s office, the Public Prosecutor told them to go to the city's police headquarters to identify the perpetrators. The family say that the police commander at the headquarters refused to help, and insulted them. The police commander and another officer tried to force José Emiliano Nandayapa’s father into a small room. In the struggle that followed, the officer punched his grandfather and shoved his mother, who is pregnant. On 30 June, José Emiliano Nandayapa and his father were interviewed on local radio about what had happened. After their interview, they were walking through a park when they were chased by two municipal police officers, and had to seek refuge in a local hospital. When they went to report the incident to the Public Prosecutor’s office, the official there initially refused to register the incident.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:

• Calling for the safety of José Emiliano Nandayapa and his family to be guaranteed, in accordance with their wishes, in order that they can pursue their legal complaint without fear of reprisal;

• calling on the authorities to immediately carry out an impartial investigation into the torture and ill-treatment of José Emiliano Nandayapa by municipal police officers on 27 June in San Cristóbal de las Casas, and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice promptly;

• calling for all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment to be effectively and impartially investigated, for those responsible to be held to account and victims to receive adequate reparations.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 19 AUGUST 2009 TO:

Governor of Chiapas

Lic. Juan José Sabines Guerrero

Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas

Palacio de Gobierno, 1º piso

Col. Centro, 29000

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, MEXICO

Fax: +52 961 618 8050 ext. 21122

Email: juansabines@chiapas.gob.mx

Salutation: Dear Governor/ Señor Gobernador

Chiapas Attorney General

Mtro. Raciel López Salazar

Procurador General de Justicia del Estado de Chiapas

Libramiento Norte y Rosa del Oriente, no. 2010

Col. El Bosque, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas

México, CP 29049

Fax: +52 961 6165724

Email: raciel.lopez@mje.chiapas.gob.mx

Salutation: Dear Attorney General / Señor Procurador

Mayor of San Cristobal de las Casas

Mariano Díaz Ochoa

Palacio Municipal, Plaza 31 de marzo

San Cristóbal de las Casaa, Chiapas, Mexico

Email: marianodiazochoa@sancristobal.gob.mx

Salutation: Dear Mayor / Señor Presidente Municipal

COPIES TO: Human Rights Organization Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolome de las Casas, Brasil 14, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. Email: accionurgente@frayba.org.mx

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION

MEXICAN STUDENT BEATEN UNCONSCIOUS

ADditional Information

José Emiliano Nandayapa and his father have participated in street theatre in San Cristóbal de las Casas, highlighting impunity and criticizing government policies. Jose Emiliano Nandayapa has been involved in a local movement promoting the rights of young people and claims he has been harassed by police for these activities.

On 27 May, a 16-year-old graffiti artist was shot and killed in San Cristobal de las Casas by a private security guard. This came two months after the municipal government passed legislation imposing heavy fines on graffiti artists and offering a cash prize to anyone who helps detain one. Local human rights organizations have complained that this has resulted in unwarranted harassment of young people in the city. Amnesty International continues to document incidence of torture or other ill-treatment in different parts of the country committed by federal, state and especially municipal police. Those responsible are almost never held to account.

UA: 182/09, Index: AMR 41/038/2009, Issue Date: 08 July 2009