UNITED MEXICAN STATES：
tortured prisoner of conscience released

Prisoner of conscience and torture victim Ángel Amílcar Colón Quevedo was released from prison in Nayarit state, Mexico, after more than five years in pre-trial detention. Amnesty International believes that his torture, detention and prosecution were the result of discrimination based on his ethnic origin and his status as an undocumented migrant. 

Ángel Colón was released from Federal Prison No. 4 in Tepic, western Mexico, on 15 October. The Federal Attorney General agreed to drop the charges against Ángel Colón and he has been released unconditionally.

Ángel Colón, a Honduran migrant of Garífuna Afro-descendent origin, was arrested by police in Mexico while travelling from Honduras to the USA on 9 March 2009. He was then tortured by police and soldiers, including being beaten, asphyxiated, threatened and racially abused. He was forced to sign a false statement to the federal public prosecutor which was used to implicate him in organized crime offences. Ángel Colón retracted the statement when brought before a judge and reported his torture to the authorities. 

Although The Federal Attorney General recorded Ángel Colón’s torture complaint in 2009, no steps have been taken to investigate it. Official forensic medical examinations, which are mandatory according to national and international human rights standards, only took place in 2013 and were left unfinished. Amnesty International will continue to call for an immediate, independent investigation into Ángel Colón’s allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, to bring those responsible to justice and to provide him with effective remedies and adequate reparation.

Amnesty International delegates visited Ángel Colón in prison in September 2014, where they shared over 2,000 solidarity messages with him and he thanked the organization and its members for their support.

No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals. Amnesty International will continue to monitor this case and take further action as necessary.

This is the first update of UA 184/14. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR41/028/2014/en

Name: Ángel Amílcar Colón Quevedo

Gender m/f: m

Further information on UA: 184/14 Index: AMR 41/040/2014 Issue Date: 17 October 2014