Aurelia García, an indigenous woman from Guerrero, is released after spending 3 years in prison for a miscarriage

After almost three years of being in prison and having been unjustly convicted, on December 20 justice was done and Aurelia García Cruceño, a young indigenous woman from Guerrero, was released after being accused of homicide by reason of kinship after a miscarriage , pregnancy that was the result of sexual abuse.

This case full of irregularities was made known by the Guerrero Network for Women’s Rights, which recounted that Aurelia was the victim of rape, committed by a 50-year-old man who was part of the community authority of her native Xochicalco, municipality of Chilapa de Álvarez, Guerrero. As a result of her abuse, the young woman became pregnant and months later she suffered a miscarriage.

This girl’s miscarriage happened when she was in her eighth month of pregnancy. After losing a lot of blood, she was taken to the hospital to receive medical attention and when she woke up in the clinic, she was arrested, convicted, sentenced and imprisoned in the prison in Iguala, Guerrero, accused of having killed her son.

Without understanding anything about what was happening, since Aurelia was barely 19 years old at the time and did not speak Spanish, the lawyers in charge of her “defense” advised her to accept her guilt and thus only spend 13 years in jail or Otherwise, she was going to be sentenced to 50 years in prison. In addition, her information was told in Spanish, so the girl did not fully understand what she was told, since she was not provided with a translator into her mother tongue.

After the injustice committed against her, on January 18, 2022, the magistrate, Indalecia Pacheco León, filed an appeal to reopen the case and resume the criminal process. After carrying out five hearings and after insufficient elements were found to prove that Aurelia had committed the crime for which she was charged, Judge Mariela Alfaro Zapata ruled in favor of her freedom.

Today is free! The sentence was acquittal. However, there are still many things pending to be resolved, for her and for the women who are imprisoned for a crime related to abortion.

– Guerrero Network for Women’s Rights

Acquitted of the crime of homicide by reason of kinship, before the law, this young indigenous woman cleared her name and all evidence against her was dismissed. After almost three years in prison, Aurelia obtained her freedom and, in the company of her mother, Agustina, and her father, Alberto, as well as her defense lawyers, Verónica Garzón Bonetti and Ximena Ugarte Trangay, took her first steps outside from prison.

Assuring that there is still much work to be done, the female activists of the Guerrero Network for Women’s Rights said that this is only the first step in their fight against discrimination against indigenous women who, like Aurelia, are denied the right to a legal and safe abortion.