Ricardo Márquez Blas, who is the coordinator of Institutional Strengthening of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), was placed in justified preventive detention, one day after being arrested in the Historic Center of Mexico City. The accusations against him are of aggravated sexual assault against a woman he worked with.
During the compliance hearing for the arrest warrant, which took place in the oral courts of the Judiciary of Mexico City, the Public Ministry of the Sexual Crimes Investigation Prosecutor's Office carried out the charge before the control judge. Márquez Blas's lawyers requested the doubling of the constitutional term of three days for the next hearing, where his legal situation regarding the alleged sexual assault that reportedly occurred on August 12 at the official's office will be determined.
The judge accepted the defense's request, and the next hearing will take place next Monday. Meanwhile, Márquez Blas will remain detained in the Eastern Male Preventive Prison of Mexico City.
Márquez Blas's detention took place just one block from the SCJN, on Pino Suárez Avenue, when agents from the General Prosecutor's Office of Justice of Mexico City intercepted him and notified him of the judicial warrant against him. According to the complaint, the assaulted woman indicated that Márquez Blas, her hierarchical superior, made non-consensual touching, which is considered sexual assault.
The SCJN communicated that, since the alleged abuse was reported, internal investigation mechanisms have been activated to determine Márquez Blas's responsibility. The High Court expressed its commitment to defending women's rights, fighting against gender violence, and the principle of presumption of innocence.
