Arbitrary detention of Damián Gallardo Martínez

On 4 February 2016, human rights defender Mr Damián Gallardo Martínez was placed in solitary confinement in retaliation for his filing of a writ of amparo against the Director of the Jalisco prison where he is encarcerated, accusing him of torture and ill treatment of detainees.

Since December, when a new director was appointed to the prison, Damián Gallardo Martínez and his fellow detainees have had their trousers and underwear pulled down by prison guards and been forced to do squats and insulted. They have also been threatened with transfer to other prisons, which would significantly hinder the legal processing of their cases. In response to these acts of ill-treatment, on 10 December 2015, the human rights defender, along with fellow detainees, filed a writ of amparo (recurso de amparo) against the director of the Federal Centre for Social Rehabilitation Number 2 of “el Salto”, in Jalisco state – CEFERESO prison.

On the same date, the Fifth District Court of Amparo and Criminal Matters of Jalisco, Zapopan (Juzgado Quinto de Distrito de Amparo en Materia Penal en el Estado de Jalisco, en Zapopan) granted a preliminary decision ordering the prison authorities to cease the abuses. In retaliation, the human rights defender was sent to solitary confinement on 4 February 2016, where he will remain for 15 days, for allegedly disrespecting prison rules. A decision on the substance of the matter is expected on 15 February 2016.

Damián Gallardo Martínez was originally arbitrarily detained on 18 May 2013 after his home was raided by seven men carrying military-issue weapons. No warrant was presented by the men who did not identify themselves. The human rights defender was subsequently held incommunicado for 30 hours and reportedly tortured until he signed a false confession incriminating members of the Sección 22 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación – SNTE (22nd Section of the National Union of Education Workers) in allegations against him of organised crime and kidnapping. The human rights defender and his colleagues were subsequently charged with organized crime and kidnapping of minors, and detention orders were issued against them on 25 May 2013 and 16 June 2013.

Both detention orders were later repealed, before being re-issued on 28 January 2014. The human rights defender subsequently challenged the reinstatement of the detention order against him, and a decision on the vailidity of its issuing remains pending at the Fourth Court of the Third Circuit of Zapopan Jalisco (Cuarto Tribunal Unitario del Tercer Circuito de Zapopan Jalisco).

The human rights defender has previously suffered serious abuses in detention. On 26 May 2014, he was the victim of a severe physical attack by another detainee in the recreational area of the CEFERESO prison. Damián Gallardo Martínez was warned by the attacker not to report the incident, as it would lead to further attacks. As a result, the human rights defender reported that he had been injured in a fall, while the attacker claimed that Damian Gallardo Martinez had been extorting him, leading to the human rights defender being segregated from other prisoners.

In November 2014, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion holding the detention of Damián Gallardo Martínez to be arbitrary, and called for his immediate and unconditional release. The UN mandate holders on freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, human rights defenders and torture have previously raised concerns over the physical and psychological integrity of the human rights defender in prison, as well as the multiple human rights violations related to his detention.