Mexico prosecutes ex-governor over 43 missing Ayotzinapa students
by Macarena Hermosilla · UPIAug. 14 (UPI) -- A Mexican court ordered former Guerrero Gov. Ángel Aguirre to stand trial over his alleged role in the forced disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teachers college in 2014.
After a detention hearing this week, the judge also upheld a pretrial detention order, requiring Aguirre to remain at the Altiplano maximum-security federal prison in the state of Mexico.
Mexico's Attorney General's Office alleges that although Aguirre did not directly participate in the students' abduction, he was responsible for the disappearance and concealment of key evidence after the events of Sept. 26 and 27, 2014.
The Ayotzinapa case is one of the most prominent and deadly human rights cases in Mexico's recent history, Milenio reported.
On the night of Sept. 26, 2014, in Iguala, Guerrero, a group of students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College -- a school that trains teachers to work in rural communities -- was attacked by local police officers working with organized crime. Six people were killed and 43 students disappeared after taken by force.
For more than a decade, the case has become a symbol of impunity, institutional corruption and alleged collusion between state security forces and drug cartels.
The case against Aguirre comes under what prosecutors have described as a "new investigative model" and follows a review of evidence in the case.
Prosecutors based part of their case on testimony obtained in this year, including that of a former official with Guerrero's Superior Court of Justice who allegedly heard Aguirre order destruction of incriminating material.
Investigators allege the cover-up was intended to protect Aguirre's nephew and outside adviser, Ernesto Aguirre Gutiérrez, who allegedly was aware of the situation and had ties to the Guerreros Unidos criminal organization, the newspaper La Jornada reported.
Aguirre's legal defense team, led by attorney Guillermo Barradas, presented 31 pieces of evidence seeking to challenge the former governor's alleged connection to efforts to destroy incriminating material. His lawyers also argued that prosecutors' witness testimony lacked credibility and consistency, outlet LatinUS reported.
Aguirre is one of the highest-ranking former officials to face prosecution in connection with the case. In October 2014, public pressure over the disappearance of the 43 students led him to step down as governor of Guerrero.