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Families will now be demanding for a second time the release from jail of 22 female teacher trainees from the central Mexican state of Michoacan arrested for crimes committed during a recent protest after they had already been freed from detention.
The 22 women were sent to a medium-security prison on Wednesday upon arriving in Michoacan, after having been freed the day before from a jail in central state of Morelos, where they were detained for one week while 30 male colleagues were jailed in a federal prison in the northern city of Hermosillo in Sonora.
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#Estados Vuelven a detener a 22 normalistas tras ser liberadas en #Michoacán. pic.twitter.com/zeS3EGHFmQ
— Fernando Canales F (@FerCanalesF)
December 17, 2015
“22 teacher training students detained again after being freed in Michoacan.”
In Michoacan, the 22 students were jailed a second time on charges of theft, property damage, and deprivation of liberty of a bus driver, Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported.
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The detention comes after a Mexican judge ruled on Tuesday that there was insufficient evidence to process the 22 out of 52 teacher trainees detained on Dec. 7 on accusations of making and possessing 25 makeshift grenades while blocking a highway in Zirahuen, Michoacan.
A Mexican court ordered formal detention of the 30 male students on Saturday.
The news comes as some 10,000 teachers, students, and family members of the detained marched on Wednesday in Michoacan’s capital of Morelia carrying photos of the 52 teacher trainees to demand freedom for the students.
En demanda de la liberación de 52 normalistas, CNTE marchó en Morelia, Michoacán #Notiminuto https://t.co/w1wl3WdIb8 pic.twitter.com/5IyPnCV8Wv
— Reforma Nacional (@reformanacional)
December 17, 2015
“Demanding freedom of 52 teacher trainees, CNTE marched in Morelia Michoacan.”
The defense lawyer has said that the students are not guilty of the charges and claims that authorities planted the homemade explosives inside the buses and also used excessive force when arresting the students.
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Relatives of the detained students slammed the arrests as “illegal,” expressing fear that federal and state authorities could forcibly disappear their family members.
A leader of the CNTE teacher’s union told La Jornada that it may be possible for the students to be freed on bail.
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