Mexican Government May Pay Damages to Army-Slayings Victims
In June, Mexico was rocked by the news that the army killed criminal suspects after they had already surrendered.
A Mexican government commission for victims' rights may now end up paying tens of thousands of dollars in reparations to the relatives of those slain.
According to The Associated Press, Sergio Rochin, the head of the Executive Commission for Victims Support, stated that all 22 of the dead are considered victims, despite the fact that between seven and 10 may have died in the initial shootout with soldiers.
On Friday Rochin explained none of the 28 relatives of the dead or the three survivors of the shootings have formally requested any reparations.
The amount that will be payed out has not been determined.
By Mexican law the victims of crimes and human rights violations must be compensated.
In their investigation, the government's human rights commission discovered that between 12 and 15 of the suspects at a warehouse in central Mexico where the shootings occurred surrendered but were shot at anyway.
In the aftermath two of the three survivors of the shooting were jailed for months on weapons charges before eventually being released.
The survivors claim that they were tortured while in custody.
The original story, according to the army, was that all 22 of the dead had been killed in a gun battle with troops after a patrol came under fire at the warehouse in the town of San Pedro Limon.
Initially, it was reported that only one soldier was wounded.
Mexico's human rights commission eventually issued a report that claimed many of the people at the warehouse surrendered before being shot.
Seven low-ranking soldiers and a lieutenant have been charged in the case.
Witnesses to the shooting have told the rights commission that there is a possibility that higher-ranking officer might have participated in the killings as well.
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