The children of Alejandra Cuevas, niece-in-law of the attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, demonstrate in the Supreme Court on March 14. Isaac Esquivel (EFE)
The Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico has put an end to the judicial battle that the attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, had with his in-laws.
The highest judicial court in the country has ordered this Monday to cancel the arrest warrant against Laura Morán, the prosecutor's sister-in-law, and immediately release her daughter, Alejandra Cuevas, both accused of causing the death of the prosecutor's brother.
The ruling begins to close a conflict that began in 2015, when Federico Gertz died in a hospital and the current prosecutor denounced the women for homicide and neglect of care.
The court decision represents a huge blow to the attorney general, who is embroiled in accusations of having used the weight of justice to pursue his own interests.
The Mexican Supreme Court has endorsed the protection of women under the idea that there are no elements to determine the responsibility of the accused in the death of Federico Gertz.
The Court has voted first for the protection of Morán, and then has begun to debate that of his daughter.
The projects, developed by Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena and made public on March 22, bury in practice the original judicial process opened in the Mexico City Prosecutor's Office against both women.
On the steps of the Supreme Court, Alonso Castillo, Cuevas' son, said: “It is a case decided unanimously, we have followed the law, and we express our gratitude to the ministers.
Today this appalling injustice has ended.
I hold Gertz Manero responsible for our integrity.
I ask for the protection of my mother, my grandmother and my brothers.”
Castillo added: “The institutions cannot be used for revenge.
Leave us alone.
This ruling means starting to rebuild our lives, which have been crushed by the power of the Attorney General's Office."
After learning of the ruling, Castillo and his brothers got into their vehicles in the direction of the Santa Martha Acatitla prison, on the outskirts of the capital.
This same Monday, Alejandra Cuevas could be released.
The prosecutor's political family has been immersed in a judicial battle for almost seven years.
Federico Gertz died in September 2015 in a hospital due to "generalized visceral congestion" due to pneumonia and a heart attack, according to the medical report.
With a delicate health for a long time, the attorney's brother fell ill in August of that year and ended up hospitalized weeks later.
After his death, the prosecutor denounced to the Mexico City Prosecutor's Office the couple for decades of his brother and his daughter of homicide, for not giving him the necessary care.
During the first years, the Public Ministry dismissed the accusation for lack of evidence.
It was not until Gertz took office as Attorney General of the Republic, in December 2018, that the case did not take off.
In July 2020, an agent assigned to the FGR requested the arrest warrant against Cuevas and Morán.
The first was arrested three months later, and the second was never apprehended.
More information
Gertz on the ropes: the keys to the case that shakes the attorney general
The case reached the highest court in November of last year, at the request of prosecutor Gertz.
The situation had escalated to such a point that it was already affecting "the honorability of the Prosecutor's Office," according to Arturo Zaldívar, president of the Supreme Court.
Cuevas' family point out to the prosecutor that he used his position and his power to take revenge on the women.
An accusation similar to those that Gertz received on other occasions, such as in his personal fight with the former head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Santiago Nieto, which ended in an investigation into the properties of the former official.
Or her enmity with the former legal adviser of the Presidency, Julio Scherer, whose entourage faces a court hearing for extortion on April 7.
The case had a first debate in the Supreme Court on March 14.
On that occasion, the ministers rejected the project because it did not study the matter in depth.
The first initiative, developed by Alberto Pérez Dayan, requested a lower instance to restore the judicial process, something that the majority of the Court rejected because it was a provisional solution that left women trapped in a judicial labyrinth.
“We must resolve the substance of the matter with a study in which we analyze all the evidence,” Zaldívar requested at the time.
To the controversy of the case was then added the leak of a call in which the attorney general read the project to his right hand, which was not public for the parties.
Those audios revealed that Gertz had had privileged access to the Court's work on the case of his in-laws.
The eyes were then on the members of the Court, about whom it was questioned if they would support the attorney just for a political issue.
This Monday's ruling leaves the prosecutor in suspense, who for the moment has had the solid support of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
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