Sat, Aug 21, 2010 page7

• Calderon suggests drug judges be anonymous

  WAR ON DRUGS Mexico’s president said there must be a way to protect judges, prosecutors and witnesses from reprisals, as drug cartels are increasingly trigger-happy

  • AP
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  Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the country should consider appointing anonymous judges for drug trafficking trials, an unexpected proposal that he acknowledged contradicts efforts to build a more open judicial system.

  Calderon, who raised the idea on Thursday during a meeting with senators on national security, said Mexico should at least consider the idea as drug cartels stage increasingly bold attacks on public official at all levels.

  “I recognize that this goes against ... our legal tradition, but in all honesty, gentlemen, I have found that citizens, police, judges, prosecutors are at risk, in the sense that they are completely exposed to criminal vengeance,” Calderon said. “We should consider whether this is valid or not, whether anonymous judges would work or not.”

  It was a surprise comment from the Mexican leader, who has touted an ongoing reform of Mexico’s secretive, inquisitorial judicial system. That overhaul, backed by millions of dollars of US aid, will create an accusatory system that puts the burden of proof on prosecutors and establishes oral trials to replace proceedings now carried out almost entirely in writing.

  A law approved by all 32 Mexican states in 2008 calls for the changeover to be completed by 2016.

  Calderon, who gave no plan for carrying out the debate on anonymous judges, is facing mounting complaints from political opponents — and even some allies — that his national security strategy is failing. He has called a series of national meetings to address those concerns.

  Even if Mexico decides against anonymous judges, Calderon said the country needs to find a way to protect judges, prosecutors and witnesses. He said some federal police have been gunned down just after testifying at trials.

  Peru and Colombia have at times used anonymous or “faceless” judges in their wars against guerrilla groups and drug traffickers as a means to protect judges from reprisals for their rulings. The use of such judges has been criticized by human rights groups.

  As if to underscore the distance Mexico’s justice system still has to go, a government human rights ombudsman on Thursday recommended the removal of the top police official in Tijuana after citizens came forward to say they had been tortured by the border city’s crusading public safety chief, Julian Leyzaola.

  Baja California State Human Rights Prosecutor Heriberto Garcia told a press conference that the investigators had found evidence to support complaints by five Tijuana residents that they had been picked up without cause following an gun fight in Tijuana in August last year.

  The complainants — whose identities were not released — said they were taken to a police station and beaten, partially suffocated with plastic bags or given electric shocks by two policemen and Leyzaola.

  “We came to the conclusion that some of them suffered electric shocks that caused wounds on their bodies, others showed contusions, and one in particular had the marks of a blow to his side that is perfectly distinguishable as the mark of a boot,” Garcia said.

  In a statement referring to the recommendations, Tijuana Mayor Bernardo Martinez Gomez said the city would cooperate with any investigation into the matter.
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