As justice still evades the families of Mexico’s 43 disappeared Ayotzinapa students, federal prosecutors and independent experts launched a new round of investigation Sunday to study debris at the Cocula garbage dump where authorities claim the students’ remains were burned.
According to a statement from the Attorney General’s office, the study will be carried out with common “objectives and conditions” agreed to by both federal investigators and the Interdisciplinary Group of International Experts, known as GIEI, working on the case.
17 months ago Mex gov disappeared #Ayotzinapa students, today case is still shrouded in secrecy, whereabouts unkown pic.twitter.com/HdkdhpcTRo
— Andalalucha (@Andalalucha) February 27, 2016
The new expert investigation is expected to conclude and deliver findings of the investigation by the end of March, according to the Mexican daily La Jornada.
The official government version of the Ayotzinapa case claims that local police abducted the 43 students in Iguala in September 2014 and handed them over to Guerreros Unidos, whose members killed the students, burned their bodies in the Cocula garbage dump, and tossed their remains into the San Juan River near the town of Cocula.
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Independent investigators and families of the victims have repeatedly cast doubt on the government’s story and have argued that there is no evidence to support the claim that the bodies were burned in the Cocula dump. The latest round of analysis of evidence in the Cocula dump should shed further light on the case.
protesters gather at #Mexico's supreme court to mark 17 mos since forced disappearance of #Ayotzinapa students pic.twitter.com/2yi5PmZh1C
— Clayton Conn (@ClaytonCteleSUR) February 26, 2016
International investigators have also slammed Mexican authorities for creating barriers in the investigation process that have routinely “threatened progress” on the case.
The independent experts argue that as an iconic and symbolic case representing the crisis of forced disappearances and systemic violence in Mexico, justice for Ayotzinapa is key.
On Feb. 26, Ayotzinapa families marked 17 months since the students were disappeared.