The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) has ruled that Article 362 of the Criminal Code of the Federal District, which makes "attacks on public peace" illegal, is unconstitutional.
For his part in events that took place on December 1, 2012, on the occasion of Enrique Peña Nieto's presidential inauguration, Bryan Reyes Rodríguez faces charges of damage to other people's property and attacks on public peace. Yesterday, in discussing the petition for amparo [protection, like injunction] filed by Reyes Rodríguez, three of the five ministers considered that Article 362 violates the principle of taxatividad [strictness, in sense of precision], which indicates that a criminal law must be precise in order to ensure legal certainty and equality before the law.
MV Note: "... taxatividad or requirement for a specific and unambiguous meaning in the work of classification of the law. That is, the customary description must not be of such vague, imprecise, open or broad manner [i.e., language], to the degree of permitting arbitrariness in its application" (First Chamber, SCJN, October 2011). Emphasis added.
Ministers José Ramón Cossío, Arturo Zaldívar and Norma Piña voted against the draft ruling prepared by Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena. Minister Jorge Pardo Rebolledo voted for the draft, which would award the amparo to the complainant such that the thirty-month prison sentence be withdrawn and the accused undergo his [judicial] process at liberty under bond. [The legal argument presented in the draft] is that the complaint filed by Reyes Rodríguez for the torture he suffered at the hands of Mexico City police who detained him the day of the events was not taken into account [by the lower court].
However, the [Ortiz Mena] draft ruling confirmed Article 362's constitutionality, which was rejected by the majority [of ministers seated in the First Sala]; that is, the decision will be formalized when the new draft ruling is presented, but the decision itself has now been made.
However, the [Ortiz Mena] draft ruling confirmed Article 362's constitutionality, which was rejected by the majority [of ministers seated in the First Sala]; that is, the decision will be formalized when the new draft ruling is presented, but the decision itself has now been made.
The matter will be turned over to one of the ministers in the majority who will develop a new ruling confirming the unconstitutionality of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of the Federal District and, surely, it will grant amparo to the complainant such that the torture to which he was submitted when he was arrested might be investigated.
Article 362 [now ruled unconstitutional] regarding "attacks on public peace" indicates
"five to 30 years imprisonment and suspension of political rights for up to ten years will be imposed, that through the use of toxic substances, fire, flood or extreme violence, acts might be performed against persons, things or public services, which disturb the public peace or undermine the authority of the Government of the Federal District [legally changed to City of Mexico on Jan 1, 2016], or pressure the authority to make a determination."Guillermo Naranjo, defense attorney for Reyes, said that the organization he represents leads the legal defense of 12 other similar criminal matters. All will benefit [from today's decision]. Spanish original