| | |  Editorials | Issues | September 2009 
No Money for Wrongly Jailed Otomi Woman
 Associated Press
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| | Otomi Indian woman Jacinta Francisco Marcial, right, kisses a girl as she poses for pictures after a press conference in Mexico City Monday, Aug. 17, 2009. After more than three years of being kept in jail, Francisco Marcial was set free on Sept. 16. The Attorney General's Office has said a review of her case turned up 'contradictions in the statements of federal agents. (AP/Marco Ugarte) | |
Mexico City - Authorities said there would be no compensation for an Indian market vendor who was wrongfully convicted of kidnapping and spent three years in prison in a case that provoked an international protest.
Jacinta Francisco Marcial was released last week after prosecutors decided not to contest an appeal of her 21-year sentence. Rights group Amnesty International demanded that she be compensated for the time spent locked up.
The Attorney General's Office said in a statement that she would not be compensated because prosecutors never proclaimed her innocence, deciding only that there was "reasonable doubt" in her conviction.
Marcial and others were convicted of holding federal agents hostage during a market raid to confiscate pirated goods. Marcial denied involvement in detaining the agents.
Mexico's Indians, many of whom don't speak Spanish, have a right to an interpreter in legal proceedings under current law, but none was apparently provided to Marcial, an Otomi Indian, during the initial stages of her trial.
Prosecutors said a review of her case turned up "contradictions in the statements of federal agents," with some witnesses saying they saw Marcial at the scene and others saying they didn't. |
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