Hidalgo del Parral, Chih., March 5, 2021. On Friday, March 5, a trial court issued a guilty verdict against one of the material authors who participated in the homicides of indigenous peoples’ human rights defender Julián Carrillo Martínez and of his son Víctor Carrillo Carrillo Carrillo, which took place in October 2018 and February 2016, respectively.

The Court considered that there were enough elements to prove the accusation presented by the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office and the legal advisors of the civil society organizations representing the community, based on the evidence presented in the trial that began on February 2 and ended on Friday, March 5.

During the issuance of the ruling, the importance of the various testimonies and evidence that allowed the judge to know the context in which the events occurred was highlighted, that is, in the context of the defense of the land, territory and natural resources of the indigenous community of Coloradas de la Virgen, where Julián Carrillo Martínez had an important leadership role as Commissioner of Communal Property.

The organizations Alianza Sierra Madre (ASMAC) and the Women’s Human Rights Center (CEDEHM) recognize the collaboration and work of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights Violations and Enforced Disappearances in this, the first trial that this Prosecutor’s Office has handled.

The legal hearing for the individualization of sanctions will begin next Thursday, March 11, after which the penalty and reparation of the damage will be determined. In this legal hearing, the organizations and the Prosecutor’s Office are requesting that the reparation measures be comprehensive and in favor of all members of the community who have been displaced due to the violence, through the determination of measures of restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, satisfaction and, above all, non-repetition.