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POLITICS–LA JORNADA
México City, Wednesday 14 April 2004
Resolution from the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN)

The Foreign Affairs Office must demand the U.S. not to execute those who might be extradited

GUSTAVO CASTILLO

 The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) concluded that the [Mexican] Foreign Affairs Office, must demand the Government of the United States, not to sentence Mexican nationals who might be extradited, to life in prison or to death.  If this requirement is not met in front of Mexican judges, and if there is no other charge against the subject to be extradited, said subject, through an *injunction, will be released until the aforementioned requirement is met.  The abovementioned resolution was reached yesterday, after the participating judges unanimously solved the contradiction found in the text [number 17/2000], and decided to grant an injunction “for the purposes of”.  Which means that said injunction does not invalidate the extradition proceedings, it commits the United States, not to impose life in prison or the death penalty, to any extradition trial of Mexican nationals requested by said country.

The legal ramifications that stem from this resolution state that whenever the [Mexican] Foreign Affairs Office, points out to the judge that the aforementioned commitment by the requesting government, has been denied, the requested subject  has the right to an injunction, and will be released, as long as no other legal proceedings are taking place.  Once this commitment is in place, the case judge will order the definitive arrest of the requested subject.

This resolution was reached considering that if the [Mexican] Foreign Affairs Office does not demand such a commitment from the United States, compliance with Article Ten, Section Five of the [Mexican] International Extradition Law[1], would not be possible.

With this resolution drug-traffickers such as Miguel Angel Caro Quintero, Francisco Arellano Felix and others, who have been requested by the United States Government, will benefit, because they will not be delivered, if there is the possibility that the [American] Authorities will impose life in prison or the death penalty.

Translator’s note: The legal term used in Spanish was “juicio de amparo”, and said term does not have an exact equivalent in English.  The closest legal meaning is conveyed by the term injunction.

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[1] This cite is to Mexico’s Extradition law and not the U.S.-Mexico Extradition Treaty.  Section Five of Article 10 provides: “That if the crime of which the subject of the request is accused is punishable, under its laws, by death or any of the punishments specified in Article 22 of the Constitution, only imprisonment or a less severe established by those laws will be imposed either directly or by substitution or commutations.”

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruling of Oct. 2, 2001, previously held that a life sentence without parole violated the cruel and unusual punishment prohibition found in Article 22 of the Constitution.  The new opinion, in effect, incorporates that holding by citing to Section 5 of Article 10 of Mexico’s Extradition law.

[Courtesy translation done by DOJ-CBI-FPU]

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