This Monday, Luis Donaldo Colosio called for the release of Mario Aburto, the confessed murderer of his father, who was PRI presidential candidate in 1994. The only person imprisoned for the murder of Luis Donaldo Colosio Sr. has been in prison for 30 years. Now the current mayor of Monterrey for the Civil Movement (MC) and candidate for senator has asked the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to “put an end to this matter” and pardon Aburto. A request that comes as the Attorney General's Office (FGR) intends to reopen the case in the middle of the election year.
Colosio made his request to the press in Monterrey clear. “I appeal to the president's compassion and would say that it is better to pardon Mario Aburto. “Let me put an end to this matter and give my family and Mexico a chance to recover,” Colosio urged.
The MC candidate for Senator for Nuevo León has brought charges against the Mexican justice system. “May we begin a path toward reconciliation through forgiveness. But above all out of respect for putting this in the hands of another justice system. Because the Mexican justice system was obliged then, and today we want to turn the tide,” he explained.
The messages from the son of the former PRI candidate come after the National Human Rights Commission rejected the statements of the organization's lawyer and former official Jesús González that exonerated Aburto of murder. The candidate's murder was also relevant this Monday when a judge stopped the FGR's attempt to reopen the case. A new investigation could cause media turmoil in the middle of the June 2 campaign for the largest elections in Mexican history.
Last October, the killer received protection from a collegiate court that annulled his 45-year prison sentence. The court found that Aburto, who murdered Luis Donaldo Colosio during an election rally in Tijuana in 1994, should have been tried under Baja California's penal code and not federal law. The court called for a new sentence, but it was never imposed. Unless there are new developments in the case, the convicted person will be released in 2024.
The President is the only power authorized to pardon Colosio's murderer. The only defendant, who was 23 years old when he shot at the candidate's body, was arrested shortly after the assassination attempt and confessed that he had a premeditated plan to commit the crime against the PRI member. In a later filing, it was clarified that Aburto retracted his version and asserted that the police were the ones who forced him to plead guilty after the torture.
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