Pre-trial detention and crimes against humanity International criminal liability of the Mexican judiciary

Abstract

This article demonstrates that the pretrial detention (PPO) currently in force in Mexico, when imposed automatically and massively, satisfies the objective, contextual, and subjective elements of the crime against humanity provided for in Article 7.1 e) of the Rome Statute. After analyzing the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the conventionality block, and the doctrine of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, it is concluded that PPO is an arbitrary deprivation of liberty that is part of a systematic state policy. It also establishes that Mexican judges, upon learning of the international illegality of PPO and maintaining it, could incur individual criminal liability before the International Criminal Court. Finally, constitutional, legal, and administrative reforms are proposed to align the procedural system with international standards and avoid the opening of an investigation in The Hague.