Chihuahua— In addition to easing up the process against former prosecutor Francisco GA, alias “Paquito,” the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has frozen the investigations against the team of public prosecutors, who were once subordinate to the former head of Operation Justice.
The accused, whose crime of torture was reclassified by the FGR as cruel treatment – which carries a lesser prison sentence – was led by two teams with more than a dozen investigators, some of whom were also directly accused by the victims, while others even testified against their former coordinator.
The investigation file brought in by the FGR was frozen from March 2023 to date, after it was initiated by the State Prosecutor’s Office, following observations by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), through the Mechanism to Prevent and Punish Torture.
After 16 months, after a three-month investigation period set by a federal judge and six occasions in which the intermediate hearing has been postponed, this Friday, July 19, the hearing is scheduled again, in which the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office must present its considerations to bring the accused to oral trial.
The investigation was ordered in December 2022 and materially executed in March 2023; the benefit of facing the process in freedom and the reclassification of the crime months later have been questioned and challenged by the legal representation of the victims, five former officials who filed complaints from the Ministry of Finance during the time of former Governor César Duarte, one of whom was subjected to the Istanbul Protocol, specialized in the detection of torture.
But while the criminal proceedings against “Paquito” advance with those elements that the victims consider unjust, the agents who worked with him and who have also been named in investigations have not been arrested or brought to trial.
The former coordinator of the so-called “X-Files” or “Operation Justice” and also former Human Rights prosecutor of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), was in charge of a significant number of investigative agents, separated into two units, one coordinated by Elisa PY and another by Francisco Javier F.
According to information from victims who reported torture, two members of these groups testified against “Paquito” at the beginning of the criminal case initiated by the FGE, in which two other MP agents who followed his instructions also appear.
First, the ruse for attracting the FGR
Francisco GA was arrested by the FGE on November 21, 2022 for the crime of torture, as five complainants, all former officials of the Ministry of Finance, accused him of undignified and inhuman treatment to build files against former governor César Duarte and several heads of state agencies.
Of the five who filed complaints with the CNDH, the Istanbul Protocol applied to one of them, Ricardo B., was sufficient for the national human rights body to request the FGE of Chihuahua to respond to the allegations, which gave rise to the criminal case against “Paquito.”
Following the arrest, the FGE managed to bring the accused former state ministerial official to trial, and he was given a precautionary measure of preventive detention while the investigation was completed and he was brought to trial.
However, Francisco GA hatched a plan to get the Federation to take up his case, which consisted of reporting himself to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) so that it could request from its counterpart in Chihuahua a copy of the investigation file that was already being prosecuted in the state court.
The plan for the file to be seized by the FGR was reported by Guillermo Saucedo Espinoza, legal representative of the victim with reserved identity JJBP1/2021, during one of the proceedings they undertook before a District Court to prevent said seizure.
“According to the lawyer’s account, last Tuesday he was informed of the transfer of an investigation file initiated against Francisco GA for the crime of torture, which began after the defendant himself reported himself,” El Diario published on January 12, 2023. “The defender detailed that this file initiated by the same former prosecutor was used as a pretext by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office to exercise its power of attraction and thus take over the file opened by the Chihuahua Prosecutor’s Office for the same events in order to remain fully in charge of the case.”
At that time, the lawyer indicated that in his 30 years of professional practice he had never seen an accused go to any instance to denounce himself, nor had the FGR opened a file for a self-denunciation, which warned that Francisco GA trusts that the federal MP will integrate a manipulated investigation that will favor and protect him.
Thus, on March 8, 2023, the defendant was released due to the change in precautionary measures and the criminal process continues without progress, despite the fact that the deadline for the investigation expired months ago and the federal justice system should schedule the beginning of a trial.
‘Paquito’s’ special teams
The names of Francisco GA’s collaborators in the special investigation unit that he was in charge of from 2016 to 2021 have emerged in several criminal proceedings that he has led, as well as in the proceedings for the accusation of torture.
“Paquito” had formed a team headed by Elisa PY, with several members under his command. According to various sources, both the coordinator and the agent he put in charge of this group were among the most aggressive in the performance of their duties, as they supposedly threatened and intimidated the defendants in the Duarte administration, as well as their families.
Among other MP agents who collaborated in that group, they reported, are Estefanía A., Martha P. and Priscila N., members of the special unit who remain under investigation, despite having left their posts in the FGE since 2021. The state agency has not revealed whether all of them have arrest warrants or what their legal status is.
Another group also created by “Paquito” was coordinated by Francisco Javier F., who was the coordinator’s successor when he was appointed by the then governor, Javier Corral, as specialized prosecutor for Human Rights and Forced Disappearance, towards the end of his administration.
Beatriz Adriana A., who was directly accused of abuses against defendants, was in charge, as was Claudia Ch. Also working in said group were agents Ricardo RN and Eduardo Ch., who were also involved in various files of the more than 20 former officials of the Duarte Jáquez administration who were criminally prosecuted for alleged corruption crimes.
Of these teams, at least two investigative agents strengthened the investigations for torture allegedly carried out by the former prosecutor, Elisa and others under his command, that is, they testified against the person who had been their boss in the “Operation Justice” unit, considering that he had incurred in irregularities against defendants for different crimes. (David Piñón / El Diario)
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