CCPR/C/127/D/2760/2016
opened.6 In view of the inaction of the authorities, and having been told by the person in
charge of the investigation that it had not been possible to start inquiries as there was no
money for petrol, Mr. Moreno Zamora began to search for his son himself. On 1 September
2011, he managed to locate his son’s mobile phone, which still contained the same SIM
card. The phone, together with its charger, had been found in the municipal landfill in
Jamiltepec (a town located two hours away from Chacahua). In addition, on 10 September
2011 Mr. Moreno Pérez’s father found his son’s backpack at the hostel where he had been
staying. These objects were handed over to the authorities.
2.7
On 8 October 2011, lacking confidence in the Prosecution Service of San Pedro
Tututepec owing to its failure to open an investigation, Mr. Moreno Zamora filed another
complaint with the Prosecution Service of Puerto Escondido (another municipality in the
State of Oaxaca located two hours away from Chacahua). Another preliminary
investigation7 was opened, bringing the number of preliminary investigations under way to
two.
2.8
Subsequently, Mr. Moreno Pérez’s father also reported the disappearance to the
Office of the Deputy Attorney General for the Investigation of Organized Crime attached to
the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic, which led to the opening of another
preliminary investigation.8
Irregularities in the investigations conducted by the Office of the Attorney General of
Oaxaca State (now the Office of the Prosecutor General of Oaxaca State)
2.9
The authors maintain that the first irregularity in the investigations occurred when
the authorities substituted the disappeared person’s mobile phone for another of the same
make and model, thus allowing a piece of evidence vital to the investigation to be destroyed.
2.10 The second irregularity concerned the weight given by the authorities to the
description of a body presumed to be that of Mr. Moreno Pérez given by a fisherman who
reportedly saw his body floating in the water on 20 July 2011. The fisherman described him
as robust, 1.5 metres tall, ostensibly bald and around 35 years of age, 9 when, in reality, he is
slim, 1.7 metres tall and has long curly hair.
2.11 The authors stress that the authorities constructed a false version of events based on
contradictory statements. On 2 December 2011, the authorities arrested Javier Rodríguez
Peña, a 22-year-old fisherman and campesino from Chacahua with only a primary school
education, who stated that, on 9 July 2011, he, along with three other people from the area
(Honorio Corcuera, Félix Gallardo and Ramiro Serrano), killed Mr. Moreno Pérez on the
beach when they stole his mobile phone, camera and iPod. The authors submit that Mr.
Moreno Pérez never had an iPod or a camera, and that these objects were never found.
According to Javier Rodríguez Peña’s statement, Honorio Corcuera stabbed Mr. Moreno
Pérez in the chest and he and the others then buried him, only to dig him up two days later
and throw him into the sea.10 On 5 December 2011, Javier Rodríguez Peña, having been
placed in arraigo (preventive custody), made another statement in which he changed his
account of the incident, stating that the homicide had in fact taken place on 10 July 2011 in
a green boat in the Chacahua lagoon and that he had been accompanied by Honorio
Corcuera, Margarito González and Irene Méndez Graf. According to this statement,
Honorio Corcuera had beaten Mr. Moreno Pérez in order to steal his mobile phone, camera
and iPod, before stabbing him in both sides in the rib area and in the chest and then
throwing him into the water. 11 That same day, Honorio Corcuera made a statement alleging
that Javier Rodríguez Peña had stabbed Mr. Moreno Pérez on a road in Chacahua. 12
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
GE.19-21673
Preliminary investigation 176/RG/2011.
Preliminary investigation 149/costa/2011.
Preliminary investigation PGR/SIEDO/UEIS/009/2012.
The authors enclose a copy of the order to appear issued in respect of Tomás Medina Lorenzana,
dated 30 October 2011.
The authors enclose a copy of the statement of Javier Rodríguez Peña, dated 2 December 2011.
The authors enclose a copy of the statement made by Javier Rodríguez Peña in preventive custody,
dated 5 December 2011.
The authors enclose a copy of the statement of Honorio Corcuera, dated 5 December 2011.
3