The Supreme Court of Justices of the Nation dismissed the project that would have put an end to the informal preventive detention

The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the bill that would have put an end to unofficial pre-trial detention in the Mexican criminal justice system, as it did not reach the necessary votes to ratify this proposal.

The magistrates discussed the possibility of the existence of justified and non-official pre-trial detention to guarantee criminal proceedings where other precautionary measures can be accessed; however, it did not gather the necessary votes to be applied in this manner.

In order for the project presented by Justice Luis María Aguilar to enter into force, eight of the 11 justices were required to vote in favour of it; however, under different arguments, the magistrates decided to reject the document, because it only received six votes in favour.

The possibility that persons investigated for the crimes of smuggling, tax fraud and falsification of invoices may evade such preventive measures were discarded since the possibility of reducing the crimes included in the catalogue that applies to such measures was also considered.

This discussion also took place in the Senate, as Damian Zepeda, of the National Action Party, has reiterated his perspective against this precautionary measure. During his argument, he recalled that almost half of Mexico’s prison population is imprisoned without a sentence.

With such high rates of people deprived of their freedom without a sentence, the legislator pointed out that those who are most affected are people with limited resources who cannot afford a good defence and are left at the mercy of Mexico’s justice system.