Almost a year away from completing his sentence for the crimes of money laundering and organized crime, former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte obtained a favorable ruling in a legal process that could open the doors to his early release.
In a virtual hearing, the court ordered the dismissal of the criminal case against him for his alleged participation in the crime of enforced disappearance, a case that had been of particular interest to family collectives of the disappeared in the state and had sparked strong demands for justice.
The former governor, currently imprisoned in Reclusorio Norte, faced this charge due to his connection with the disappearance of Veracruz police officer David Lara Cruz, who was detained in 2016 and disappeared after attending a Trustworthiness Assessment at the Veracruz Secretary of Public Security Academy.
Although the Veracruz Attorney General's Office did not publicly comment on the judicial ruling, sources close to the case confirmed that the decision was favorable for Duarte, which could change the course of his legal situation and bring him closer to freedom.
The accusation for enforced disappearance linked to Duarte arose from a tragic discovery in the Barranca de La Aurora, in the municipality of Emiliano Zapata, Veracruz, where human remains were found that were at one point attributed to more than twenty people.
However, the dismissal of the enforced disappearance charge implies that the charges against him have been dismissed, opening the possibility for Duarte to receive early release, provided there are no other pending legal processes. Among them was the body of David Lara Cruz.
The Veracruz prosecutor's office accused officials from Duarte's administration of concealing the magnitude of the discovery, as the bodies initially reported were reduced in number to six, and an elite group known as "Los Fieles" was indicated as the alleged responsible for the enforced disappearances in the state during Duarte's term, that is, from 2010 to 2016.
In 2022, Javier Duarte had been linked to this case and had been ordered preventive justified imprisonment.
