Mexico’s Supreme Court debates mandatory pretrial detention

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court held a first day of debate Monday on the country’s policy of mandatory pretrial detention as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accused the justices of violating the separation of powers.

Suspects accused of the most violent crimes seldom get released on bail anywhere in the world. But in Mexico, López Obrador has expanded the list of charges that require a suspect to be detained pending trial to 16, including some nonviolent crimes.

Some justices argue the policy violates international treaties barring pretrial detention in all but “exceptional” cases to prevent suspects from fleeing justice. But López Obrador says that’s up to Congress to decide.

“If they cancel this article, it is an open invasion of the powers of the legislative branch, and it would violate the balance and separation of powers,” López Obrador said Monday before the court session opened. “I don’t think they will dare to, because it is a complete violation of the Constitution.”

Supreme Court Justice Luis Maria Aguilar argued that pretrial detention amounted to a “sentence carried out beforehand,” noting some charges carried sentences of just a few months, far less than the amount of time most people spend awaiting trial.

But other judges disagreed, saying the court didn’t have the authority to declare an article of the constitution unconstitutional based on the supremacy of international treaties.

The court then adjourned until Tuesday, when the rest of the 11 justices are expected to present arguments.

The proceedings Monday made it appear likely there aren’t enough votes to declare the practice unconstitutional. But the court must still hear a more limited appeal on the same grounds that would benefit only the plaintiffs in a particular case.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Arturo Zaldivar wrote in his Twitter account Monday that the court “is starting debate on one of the most transcendent topics for the constitutional system and people’s human rights. We will do it with independence and full responsibility.”

Only about two of every 10 people accused of a crime in Mexico are ever found guilty. That means that of the estimated 92,000 suspects held pending trial — often in the same cells with hardened criminals — around 75,000 won’t be convicted despite sometimes spending years locked up in Mexico’s crowded, dangerous prisons.

Trials in Mexico can drag on for a surprisingly long time. Two men were recently released with ankle monitors after spending 17 years in prison while on trial for murder.

Activists say an increasing number of Mexicans are pressured into a form of plea bargain simply because they are likely to spend more time in a cell trying to clear their names than they would if convicted.

López Obrador argues that limiting pretrial detention would create additional pressures or threats against judges to accept bribes in exchange for releasing suspects, and create a “revolving-door” justice system in which suspects could walk out of jail as soon as they are detained.

Activists say there is also a question of whether Mexico should be locking up people for years just on the say-so of police who often lack investigative skills and keep suspects locked up on the thinnest of suspicions while trying to build cases against them.

Mexico does not have cash or property bail like the United States. Instead, there are more than a dozen mechanisms aimed at ensuring suspects show up in court, ranging from electronic monitoring devices to confiscation of passports to periodic check-ins.

Chrístel Rosales, of the government watchdog group Mexico Evalua — Mexico Evaluates — said about 30% of those jailed pending trial are charged with home robberies, about 20% for domestic violence and 10% for low-level drug sales or possession.

Rosales says Mexico’s prison population has risen by about 30% since López Obrador expanded the number of “no-bail” offenses in 2019, and put that in the Constitution. Being put into Mexican prisons, which are overcrowded, underfunded and controlled by gangs, can be hell for those on pretrial detention, who often enter with no prison smarts or gang connections.

The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in a statement Monday that “mandatory pretrial detention violates international standards on human rights.”

Miriam Estrada-Castillo, the president of the working group, said “one of the most serious consequences is that many Mexicans spend more than a decade in prison awaiting trial, with no sentence and in situations that represent serious risks to their lives and wellbeing.”