Former Chihuahua Mayor Hugo Schultz, sentenced to eight years in prison for helping the murderers of Miroslava Breach

A protester holds a photo of murdered journalist Miroslava Breach, during a protest in Mexico City, Mexico in 2017.Anadolu Agency / GETTY IMAGES

Hugo Schultz, a PAN politician in Chihuahua and former mayor of the Serrano municipality of Chínipas, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for assisting the material and intellectual authors of the murder of journalist Miroslava Breach in 2017. The sentence includes the obligation to repair the damage, an act of recognition and public apology for her participation in the events and her political rights suspended, as reported by the NGO Propuesta Cívica that has accompanied the victim's family during the judicial process. Four years ago, the Mexican investigative correspondent for

La Jornada

He had denounced the narco-politicians who operated in the municipality, members of drug trafficking groups that infiltrate the political sphere to consolidate their control within the municipal presidency. The other material author of the crime, Jaciel Vega, is still at large.

Schultz had been in custody for his involvement in the Breach murder since last December.

Víctor Martínez, part of the team of legal representatives of the family, insisted that the PAN politician had investigated Miroslava's sources in a report on the 2016 municipal candidacies. The former mayor did so due to “pressure” from the Los Salazares criminal group , linked to the Sinaloa cartel and very active in the Sierra de Chihuahua.

Thanks to that journalistic note, “they changed candidates for municipal president in Chínipas.

She had denounced that there were drug traffickers within the competition for the municipal presidency, ”the lawyer explained at the time.

More information

• They arrest a drug leader in Chihuahua, suspected of ordering the murder of journalist Miroslava Breach

• The clues to the murder of Miroslava Breach that were not investigated

Thanks to the investigation of the Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE), part of the Federal Prosecutor's Office, Schultz was arrested for helping the journalist's murderers. After four years since his murder, Propuesta Cívica has announced that the politician has been sentenced to eight years, a sentence much less than the 50 years received by Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa, alias El Larry, the only one of the intellectual authors in prison. The NGO has explained in a statement that the case of Schultz is an abbreviated procedure, since there is the benefit of reducing the years in prison because his degree of participation was as "helper." In addition, the politician agreed to accept his responsibility and participation in the events,he waived his right to an oral trial and guaranteed full reparation to the victims in a public apology.

“I am very sorry that any action on my part contributed to his regrettable murder. I want to convey this message to the Miroslava family in which I acknowledge that my contribution affected Miroslava's rights and I regret the consequences that they generated, ”said Schultz. "The absence of Miroslava Breach as a critical voice of journalism undoubtedly affected the right of society to public information," he added.

Mexico is the deadliest country to practice journalism, according to reports from Reporters Without Borders. On March 23, 2017 at seven in the morning, in the city of Chihuahua, the Mexican journalist Breach became one more victim of this spiral of violence. He got into his truck to take his 14-year-old son to school. Suddenly an unknown man appeared, his face hidden under a cap, and opened fire. Police theories suggest that José Crispín Salazar - one of the leaders of the Los Salazares clan, linked to the Sinaloa cartel and very active in the Chihuahua mountains - would have ordered the murder of El Larry, who in turn delegated the task to two hitmen, Ramón Zavala, the gunman, and Jaciel Vega, the driver of the vehicle from which the shots were fired. Zavala was found dead in Sonora in December 2017,just a few days before El Larry's arrest while Vega is still at large.

In a country where impunity for crimes reigns regardless of their severity, the Breach case brought together the journalistic union to exert pressure on the investigation and arrest of suspects.

Two months after the attack against Breach, two gunmen expanded the list of professional victims of the lead law to silence the press with the murder of reporter Javier Valdez in Sinaloa.

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