A man who committed suicide in his jail cell had days earlier filed a complaint against the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) before the State Human Rights Commission (Codhey).
Genaro Vazquez Ruelas had called his arrest arbitrary days before he was found dead in a jail cell, ombudsman Miguel Sabido Santana reported.
Vazquez was charged with disturbing the peace. Police said he was drunk and wielding a baseball bat, and placed the man in solitary confinement.
The president of the Codhey explained that this complaint is being investigated along with that filed by relatives of the deceased to find out the causes of death, which as reported by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), was a suicide.
“We are investigating this complaint because they are two situations that are related and linked, we are going to investigate what happened before, what motivated the complaint and what happened next,” he said.
The Commission has already requested both the Oxkutzcab City Council and the FGE to report the case to find out the causes of death and disclaim responsibilities, said the official. So far none of the institutions have responded, but the deadline for providing the data has not expired.
“The report was requested between Sept. 4 and 5, it is 15 days that you have to provide it, these days it must be received and if the authorities do not do it, we continue our investigations, if they answer us and there is some clarification, it would also perform what corresponds,” he said.
News of the prisoner’s apparent suicide by hanging sparked riots. Protesters set fire to the city hall and three police cars in response. Twelve arrests were made during the outbursts.