Court Order Aiming to Legally Protect El Chapo Guzman Raises Speculation Patrick Corcoran - Insight Crime
go to original September 10, 2015

Three judges agreed to legally protect El Chapo from any mistreatment and deportation. (Univision)

A Mexican court order issued in August prohibits authorities from torturing, killing, or extraditing Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, an unusual gesture that raises questions about the seriousness of the search to apprehend the capo after his daring July prison escape.

As reported by Univision Investiga, Guzman’s longtime lawyer Juan Pablo Badillo solicited the prohibitions - which were subsequently granted by a tribunal of three magistrates - in the weeks following his client’s flight from the Altiplano prison. Among other points, Badillo argued that, if extradited, Guzman would likely be subjected to torture in the United States to force his confession to crimes for which American authorities have accused him.

This type of judicial order is highly unusual. While Mexico has long had an uneven approach to extraditions - kingpins like Benjamin Arellano Felix and Osiel Cardenas have been extradited in the past decade, but many others have remained in Mexico despite keen US interest in their activities - it is rare, if not unprecedented, to explicitly and preemptively outlaw a specific suspect’s extradition.

It is also not clear what purpose the prohibition against killing or torturing Guzman serves. While not enforced to great effect, Mexico already has laws against both government torture and murder, so it doesn’t appear the judges are doing much more than ratifying existing law regarding these two requests. Notwithstanding the order, it is difficult to imagine that Mexican troops, should they be faced with a cohort of hostile and armed Chapo loyalists, would hesitate to shoot him.

Similarly, an extradition prohibition prior to his arrest - and prior to an onslaught of pressure that may face a different administration with different priorities - also seems to be of limited value.

That is not to say, however, that the news will have no impact.

Read the rest at Insight Crime

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