In this context, the Mexican government has tried to delegitimize and criminalize the demands of Mexican citizens by carrying out arbitrary and violent arrests, including the arrest of Chilean citizen Laurence Maxwell Ilabaca. Maxwell is a well-known academic and an outstanding Ph.D. student in the Literature Department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He was arrested in the area surrounding the Mexico City Zocalo.
Maxwell has not been given due legal process and his arrest and the handling of his case has been plagued with irregularities:
First, after his arrest he was not taken to the Mexico City’s Prosecutor’s Office, as is required procedure, and was instead taken to the Deputy Attorney General’s Office for Organized Crime (Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada, SEIDO), an agency that is part of the Federal Government. This shows procedural irregularities because generally street disturbances are not considered federal crimes and should be prosecuted by state authority, in this case the Mexico City government. This was the procedure followed with the protestors arrested during the morning protests, also on 20 November.
Second, he was assigned a public defender, one that works directly with the Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR). Given the arbitrary arrest with no evidence of wrongdoing on part of Maxwell or all others detained on 20 November it is not possible to trust the Attorney General’s Office or the assigned public defender. Furthermore, the assigned public defender, Rafael Lomas Loya, has aggressively refused to provide information regarding Maxwell’s case to anyone but blood relatives, in spite of the fact that he has no family in Mexico. The Attorney General’s Office has refused to allow Maxwell to appoint a trustworthy person to act in his name, a legal recourse recognized by Mexican law.
Third, Maxwell has been refused a change of representation, in spite of the efforts of Alejandro Jiménez Padilla, a lawyer from the Mexican Institute for Human Rights and Democracy (Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia, IMDHD). To date, the petition for a change of representation has been denied, as well as two appeals with the same objective.
Fourth, on Saturday 22 November at 7:00 am, Maxwell and the other male detainees who were arrested on 20 November, were moved to Federal Prison No. 5 “Oriente” (formerly Villa Aldama) in the state of Veracruz. This is a high security prison, located approximately 250 kilometers (156 miles) southeast of Mexico City. He arrived at the Veracruz prison at 11:40 am on Saturday 22 November. No reason has been offered for this action, one that has left Maxwell isolated from representation and without contact with the outside.
Laurence Maxwell Ilabaca, who has a distinguished academic and artistic trajectory, is now held in a prison known as “El Perote.” This prison holds some of Mexico’s most dangerous criminals and we are deeply concerned for his physical and psychological safety.
Without any proof he has been charged with rioting, attempted homicide and criminal association. He has been held without access to appropriate and dependable representation and up to now has been kept almost completely incommunicated.
Maxwell’s arrest is part of a series of arbitrary detentions that have taken place due to the peaceful protests against the Ayotzinapa case. Given the irregularities outlined above and the lack of evidence for his arrest, we demand that the Chilean government take effective and urgent measures to assure all charges against Maxwell are dropped and help facilitate his immediate release.
The Committee for the Liberation of Laurence Maxwell expresses its solidarity with the friends and families of all others detained on 20 November in Mexico City, as well as with the families of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa who have now been missing for almost two months.
Finally, we call for a show of solidarity on part of the people of Chile, along with its students, academic, artists, and demand, along with the international community, justice in this case.
For the immediate release of Laurence Maxwell Ilabaca!
