New criminal investigation of Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván makes 9 total cases against the WHRD
On 18 March 2022, the National Judiciary notified woman human rights defender Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván of the existence of a new investigation for "attacks on communication roads" in the state of Guerrero. A judge will announce the details of the indictment on 5 April 2022, when it will be determined whether the woman human rights defender will be formally charged as a result of her peaceful resistance against development models that harm indigenous and peasant communities in the state of Guerrero.
Indigenous defender Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván has been imprisoned for one year and five months, since her arbitrary arrest on 6 June 2020. Since then she has been subjected to a criminalisation campaign orchestrated against her, in retaliation for her peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of land and indigenous peoples rights. There are 9 criminal cases open against her in 4 different Mexican states including Morelos, Guerrero, Guanajuato and the State of Mexico. Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván faces prosecution and official harassment while detained in the maximum security prison Centro Federal de Readaptación Social Femenil (CEFERESO) No. 16, in the municipality of Coatlán, Morelos State.
On 18 March 2022, the National Judiciary notified woman human rights defender Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván of the existence of a new investigation for "attacks on communication roads" in the state of Guerrero. A judge will announce the details of the indictment on 5 April 2022, when it will be determined whether the woman human rights defender will be formally charged as a result of her peaceful resistance against development models that harm indigenous and peasant communities in the state of Guerrero.
Indigenous defender Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván has been imprisoned for one year and five months, since her arbitrary arrest on 6 June 2020. Since then she has been subjected to a criminalisation campaign orchestrated against her, in retaliation for her peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of land and indigenous peoples rights. There are 9 criminal cases open against her in 4 different Mexican states including Morelos, Guerrero, Guanajuato and the State of Mexico. Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván faces prosecution and official harassment while detained in the maximum security prison Centro Federal de Readaptación Social Femenil (CEFERESO) No. 16, in the municipality of Coatlán, Morelos State.
Front Line Defenders is particularly concerned about the new charges brought against the woman human rights defender, as offence of "attacks on communication roads" regulated under the “Law of Roads”, which was recently amended in February 2022. The amendment would allow the WHRD to be charged retroactively, for her alleged participation in events in 2019.
Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván, has been a beneficiary of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists since September 2019. Other members of the social movement Zapata Vive collective that she leads and with which she defends land rights, have been subject to persistent threats and judicial harrasment since February 2019.
Front Line Defenders reiterates that Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván is being targeted by the Mexican authorities as a result of her legitimate work in defence of the land rights of indigenous peoples collective rights and interprets the criminalisation campaign against her as part of an extensive strategy to intimidate and discourage others from engaging in the defence of rights in the country.
Front Line Defenders reiterates its call on the Mexican authorities to release Kenia Inés Hernandez Montalván and to drop the unfounded charges and cease the baseless investigations against her.
On 19 February 2022, the Trial Court of the Judicial District of Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, sentenced woman human rights defender Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván to ten years and six months in prison, following her conviction on 5 February 2022 on the fabricated charge of "robbery with violence". The woman human rights defender has been deprived of her freedom for one year and four months, since her arbitrary detention in October 2020.
Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván is an Amuzga indigenous and feminist human, land and indigenous peoples' rights defender. She is the coordinator of the Zapata Vive Libertarian Collective, which promotes different forms of peaceful resistance to neo-liberal development models imposed by the Mexican state. There are currently seven cases open in relation to fabricated charges against the human rights defender in retaliation for her work in defence of human rights.
The Trial Court delivered a sentence of ten years and six months in prison and a fine of twenty-one thousand Mexican pesos (approximately one thousand US dollars) against the woman human rights defender. The sentence forms part of a strategy of judicial harassment and arbitrary detentions against Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván in retaliation for her legitimate and peaceful activities in defence of the rights of peasant communities. It is also related to one of the seven criminal cases (five federal and two common law cases in the State of Mexico) that have been opened against her.
Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván was detained on 18 October 2020 at the Amozoc toll booth in Puebla by a group of approximately 22 police officers and 20 patrol cars without a warrant. Her whereabouts remained unknown until the morning of 19 October 2020, when it became known that she had been transferred to the Santiaguito Social Rehabilitation Centre, located in Almoloya de Juárez.
On 25 October 2020, following a new arrest warrant issued by the Attorney General's Office (FGR) for the alleged crime of "attacks on communication routes", Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván was transferred to the maximum security centre No.16 Federal Centre for the Social Readaptation of Women (CEFERESO), in the municipality of Coatlán, Morelos state, where she has remained until now. At the end of 2021, Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván went on hunger strike for 61 days to denounce the judicial harassment she has been subjected to by the Mexican government.
Front Line Defenders condemns the criminalisation and judicial harassment of Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván by the Mexican authorities and reaffirms its deep concern for the physical and emotional safety of the woman human rights defender.
