NATIONAL STRATEGIC LITIGATION

TOJIL filed an appeal for judicial review, asking a judge to evaluate the prosecutor’s negative response to our request for legal standing as victims of corruption-related crimes. However, the judge sustained the prosecutor’s response and argued that our organization had not suffered any damage due to the reported corruption crimes.

In January 2019, we filed a constitutional lawsuit against the judge’s unfavorable resolution, arguing that it violated our human rights explicitly recognized in the Mexican Constitution (CPEUM), the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC).

In May 2019, a Federal Judge ruled that TOJIL’s legal standing as a victim of corruption crimes should be recognized in the criminal proceedings against Javier Duarte based on Articles 20 of the CPEUM, 13 from the UNCAC, 4 of the General Law of Victims, and 108 of the National Code of Criminal Procedure. The judge argued that civil society has the right to participate in criminal proceedings in which the crime affects collective rights, such as the right to proper public administration and the right to a corruption-free environment. This ruling constitutes a landmarking national precedent.

Unfortunately, the Attorney General and prosecutors appealed this landmark decision, and a Federal Collegiate Court decided to revoke it. The Court argued that TOJIL had not demonstrated that Javier Duarte’s corruption had affected our constitutional or conventional rights. Thus, the Court concluded that we had the right to report corruption-related crimes but not to obtain legal standing as victims of corruption and participate directly in the criminal process.

One of the Collegiate Court judges forcefully defended her dissenting vote. She argued that corruption-related crimes are meant to protect collective interests, such as proper public administration. Therefore, she concluded that our civil society organization should be granted legal standing as a victim of corruption-related crimes that affect the entire Mexican society.

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