The Judicial power of the Federation (PJF) and the Government of Mexico City they signed the agreementFor a Justice Close to the People“, with which they intend that prisoners in prisons in the capital can have lawyers from the Federal Institute of Public Defense.
The president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and of PJFArturo Zaldívar, reiterated that “in Mexico we continue to have an elitist justice, a justice that privileges those who have economic resources or political contacts over those who have nothing.”
He added that “we continue to have justice throughout the country where prisons are full of innocents, whose only crime is poverty. We continue to have a country where the prisons, the people, even before being found guilty, live in unimaginable situations of repeated violation of their human rights”.
He said that as a result of the judicial justice reform of 2021, the Judicial power of the Federation has representation in all the entities of the country, “and we want to go further: we want to collaborate with the authorities of the federal entities to be able to help this type of people who have someone to help them, and make a team, an alliance, because all the authorities are part of the Mexican State, to be able to arrive and give a little justice to this sector”.
He indicated that with this agreement federal public defenders will be able to intervene in local affairs.
He stated that this agreement is prior to his visit on May 11 to the Santa Martha Acatitla women’s prison, where he will meet with women prisoners who invited him to express various irregularities in their criminal proceedings.
The head of the Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, described the agreement as historic, as she said that “all the people who require access to the defense can have the advice and support of the federal public defender; I say it in a few words: there is nothing more difficult than a person who is sanctioned by justice and who does not have access to defense”.
She indicated that the agreement will allow “a woman who speaks a indigenous languageto have access to justice; that the adolescent who somehow has guardians have access to justice; that the most vulnerable women have access to justice. I believe that nothing is more difficult than an innocent person being imprisoned and not having access to a good defense”.
The head of the Government of Mexico City affirmed that her government is strengthening the local public defender, but accepts the support, since it is about reaching the people who need it most.
The agreement was also signed by the prosecutor of Mexico City Justice, Ernestina Godoy; the president of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City, Rafael Guerra Álvarez; the director of the Federal Institute of Public Defense, Netzaí Sandoval.
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