Mexico’s state attorney’s office said on Saturday that it was dropping charges against Roxana Ruiz, the woman who killed the man who raped her in self-defense two years ago. In one of the most publicized cases of recent months, Ruiz, who was sentenced just days ago to six years and two months in prison for excessive legitimate defense, is seeing her grievances beginning to have an impact. The six-year sentence was not firm and, given the possible appeals from Ruiz and his lawyers, prosecutors have decided to withdraw it.
“After learning of the May 15 verdict against Roxana Ruiz,” prosecutors wrote in a statement, “the Attorney General directed the Central Prosecutor’s Office for the Investigation of Crimes Related to Gender-Based Violence to open the case for further analysis.” the methodological parameters to consider when including people from vulnerable groups,” he added. In the review, the Gender-Based Violence Unit concluded that Ruiz “is absolved of criminal responsibility as prosecutors believe he acted in a legitimate defense.”
The news marks a victory for 23-year-old Ruiz, who is originally from Oaxaca. But also for a country like Mexico, which counts thousands of women murdered every year. Ruiz has indicated exactly what the characters are hiding. The violence perpetrated against women in the context of what happened in her case. In an interview with EL PAÍS this week, he emphasized that “it was my life or his”.
The woman told this newspaper what had happened. The year was 2021. Ruiz had taken to the streets with his shopping cart to sell fries. Some women who worked across from her invited her for a few beers. “I took one and left,” he has said several times. At that moment, a boy she knew by sight, Sinai Cruz, approached her and offered to walk her home. “He insisted that I let him in and stay the night because he lived very far away,” explains Ruiz. She says she agreed to let him in out of fear. As she slept, she added, the man raped her. “I woke up and this guy was lying on top of me with his pants and boxers down. And I, well, the only thing I did was get rid of it, defend myself and get out alive,” she says.
Ruiz tells that they both fought and that during the fight Cruz hit his head and died. Terrified, the woman tried to remove the man’s body from her home, but was then stopped by the police. Ruiz spent nine months in custody before being provisionally released. “I explained to them that I defended myself when this person abused me, but they didn’t take it into account in my testimony,” the woman said in an interview.
When asked about the case, a spokesman for the Mexico State Attorney’s Office said the ball was now in the local judiciary. “The prosecution is no longer the prosecuting party. It is now expected that a hearing will be held this week where the judge will announce the withdrawal and close the case. The latter, however, depends on the judiciary. The public prosecutor’s office thus recognizes that it was a matter of personal defence,” he explains.
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