• The Court recognizes that from the cumulative evidence, violations of the human rights of the Rarámuri indigenous community of Coloradas de la Virgen have been proven.
• It recognizes that the State has failed the community and the human rights defenders.
• It ordered a thorough damage reparation with measures of restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition, which also contemplates the community as victims of the facts by recognizing the impacts and consequences suffered.

Chihuahua, Chih., April 22, 2021. Last March 12, 2021, at a hearing for the individualization of sanctions and reparation of damages, the Trial Court composed of judges Manuela Terrazas Solís, Lizbeth Alondra Chávez Jurado and Judge Felipe de Jesús Medina Granados, of the Mina Judicial District in Chihuahua, issued the sentence for the homicides of Julián Carrillo Martínez and his son Víctor Carrillo Carrillo, which occurred in October 2018 and February 2016, respectively.

The sentence imposed 48 years of imprisonment on one of the perpetrators of the two murders and determined that full reparations should be made to the direct families of the murdered persons and to the community to which they belonged.

During the trial, it was proven that violations of the community’s human rights had been committed and that the State had failed to provide protection to the defenders. It was recognized that, as a result of the acts of violence perpetuated against the community, in the context of the defense of their land, territory, natural resources and, specifically, as a result of the murder of one of their main leaders, several people had been forcibly displaced, suffering the loss of their property and preventing the realization of their life project. Therefore, the authorities at different levels of government will be requested to carry out efficient public security actions to eradicate the criminal group operating in the area and thus guarantee the dignified and safe return of the families to their place of origin.

In the issuance of the sentence, reparation for moral damages and the realization of a public act in which Julián Carrillo Martínez is recognized as a human rights defender were contemplated. Likewise, it was condemned to rehabilitation and compensation measures in favor of those who can prove to have suffered economically valuable losses as a result of the facts that were the subject of the trial.

This sentence is a unique reference in the country as it considers the systematic context of violence suffered by the community in defense of its territory, recognizes the effects on the community following the murder of one of its leaders and, above all, recognizes the human rights violations and contemplates comprehensive reparation measures to be taken by State authorities.

The human rights organizations, Alianza Sierra Madre A.C. and Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres A.C., which accompany the community in their struggle for the respect and guarantee of their rights, recognize that this sentence sets a precedent at the national level and we hope it will serve as a reference for other indigenous communities that face the same obstacles in their dignified struggle for the respect of their ancestral territory. Likewise, we consider that sentences such as this one constitute an effective measure that allows similar acts not to be repeated as they are adequately sanctioned.

Julián Carrillo Martínez dedicated his life to the defense of his community’s forests. In his position as Commissioner of Communal Property, he took on the task of undertaking actions and complaints before all the instances available to the Mexican State, to request the respect and guarantee of the rights of Coloradas de la Virgen, municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, Chih. In this task he suffered a series of threats and the murder of several members of his family, so he was incorporated along with his representatives and other people of the community, to the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists since February 2014. As protection measures, he was given a satellite phone and police accompaniment for his transfers outside his community.

Before his murder, the different security incidents he suffered were documented and brought to the attention of the corresponding authorities. Even in December 2016, in one of the communications sent, it was warned that Julián was at risk every time he climbed the hill where he picked up the telephone signal, due to the high probability of being intercepted by his aggressors, circumstance in which he was finally murdered. In spite of the above, the measures granted to protect him were not modified or adequate.

In the state of Chihuahua this is the second case in which there is a conviction for the murder of a human rights defender. The first was that of Isidro Baldenegro, who was also one of the main leaders of Coloradas de la Virgen.

The community of Coloradas de la Virgen continues its legal struggle for its natural resources and continues to demand that the Mexican government protect its members, who remain at risk.