16 soldiers allegedly involved in apparent extrajudicial execution are arrested in Mexico

(CNN Spanish) — The Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico (Sedena) reported this Saturday that 16 soldiers were apprehended after a video was released this week that appears to show heavily armed Mexican Army personnel removing civilians from a truck and then mistreating, shooting and altering them. the site of the event.

“The arrest warrants were granted by the First Control Court of the First Military Region, for allegedly constituting crimes contrary to military discipline,” the Mexican authorities said in a statement.

The institution explained that the 16 detainees will be prosecuted and that the military justice system ordered them into pretrial detention.

CNN has not been able to verify so far the identity of the accused soldiers or if they have legal representation. What is known, according to the information disclosed by Sedena, is that the 16 detainees will remain in the Military Prison of the First Military Region, located inside Military Camp Number 1-A, in Mexico City.

“These actions are independent of the investigation carried out by the Attorney General of the Republic, with which this Secretary of State collaborates, in order to determine the corresponding responsibilities in the federal order,” the statement added.

CNN obtained 32 minutes of footage, 20 of which are unreedited. CNN has not been able to independently verify the source of the material. According to the Army, the event occurred on May 18 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

“By virtue of the fact that civilians are involved, the Attorney General’s Office is empowered to investigate them and, in this sense, the Sedena is cooperating to determine the responsibilities,” the entity said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The Sedena has ensured that it guarantees Mexican society “that there is no impunity in the performance of military personnel, nor will any conduct contrary to the rule of law overlap.”