Mexico City. – Jesús Murillo Karam will remain incarcerated in the medical building of the Tepepan prison in Xochimilco while proceedings in his Ayotzinapa case are pending.
A federal judge this morning denied placing Murillo under house arrest at his residence in Las Lomas de Chapultepec, despite his claims that he has signs of dementia, estimating the flight risk to be high because he has a support network to Help him and Alzheimer’s.
Reclusorio Sur The presiding judge of the Federal Criminal Justice Center, Juan José Hernández Leyva, refused to place the former Attorney General of the Republic under house arrest for the second and only time he was subject to reasonably preventive measures. Detention procedures.
This is a criminal proceeding initiated in April last year, involving crimes of torture, enforced disappearance and association of public servants, as well as the alleged harassment of Felipe Rodríguez Salgado “El Cepillo”, a member of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group.
At a hearing in the absence of the former head of the PGR, the judge decided not to approve his changes to preventive measures, including wearing an electronic bracelet, delivering a passport and banning access to the airport. The conclusion was that there was a flight risk.
The judge estimated that Murillo was at risk of escaping justice due to the dominance of support networks available to him outside prison and, moreover, that under reasonable preventive detention they could guarantee better medical care for his health problems.
Murillo’s defense attorney, Javier López, led the request for these protective measures to reaffirm the November 1 order granted to the man by prosecuting judge José Rivas González. Hidalgo conservation measures.
At that time, Rivas granted benefits in the first trial for torture, enforced disappearance and crimes against justice in the Ayotzinapa case.
Shortly after the resolution was passed, President Andrés López Obrador disqualified Rivas Gonzalez as a “signature” judge and banned him from holding demonstrations. The prosecutor’s office also announced the filing of a complaint against the judge with the Federal Judiciary Council.
During the hearing, which started at 5:00 pm yesterday and ended at 2:00 am this Saturday, the defense explained that Murillo suffered from various health conditions and therefore could not consider the risk that he might escape.
Among his illnesses, he listed everything from sinusitis, bronchitis, diabetes and hypertension, to blocked blood vessels in the brain and symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic not only opposed the change in preventive measures from the beginning, but also accused Murillo Karam of having privileges at Tepepan and even received death threats and pressure on officials to keep the former Attorney General at the hospital. Prison Center.
In particular, the prosecutor’s office claimed that Murillo’s medical condition was not serious and inconsistent with his defense, even pointing out that Murillo was not wearing a custodial prisoner uniform and that records show he received up to five visits per day, Each visit lasts up to 3 hours.
Prosecutor Lydia Bustamante Vargas revealed during the hearing that the former attorney general requested that rooms in the medical tower be equipped with private bathrooms and a screen with a video game console.
Interviews broadcast by FGR revealed that Ricardo Arturo Barreiro Perera, Mexico City’s undersecretary for medical services and supplies, threatened to kill Murillo if Karam is discharged from the hospital, he will fire the Tepepan staff because it means he will return to the North Prison.
He added that when Murillo was transferred to Tepepan, the medical tower director wanted to return him to the Bellisario Dominguez Hospital, but he eventually admitted it when he found out who it was .
It was also clear from the testimony that the medical tower’s legal manager, Guadalupe Romo Monroy, had received death threats, although the prosecutor’s office did not specify the source.
In the end, Judge Hernández Leyva concluded that he met the reasonable conditions for preventive detention and, therefore, refused to send him home to continue the process.
The former Attorney General was arrested by the Secretary of the Navy on August 19, 2022, in front of his home in Las Lomas, during which an arrest warrant was issued, and he is currently under house arrest.
JRL