[UPDATE] After arbitrarily detaining her and depriving her of liberty for more than two years, judge decree acquittal of charges and freedom for Asunción Gómez Sánchez.

Since October 19, 2019, human rights defender Asunción Gómez Sánchez has been illegally deprived of her freedom in the State Center for Social Reinsertion (CERSS) Number 14, El Amate prison, in Cintalapa, Chiapas. Asunción was arbitrarily arrested along with her husband, Venturino Torres Escobar, for participating in the National Front in the  Struggle for Socialism (FNLS, Spanish initials)  in their community Ejido Nucatili, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas.

Asunción is a defender of the land and life of dignity, a construction worker, and a campesina. She has been present in days of work for the right to the land against dispossession in the state of Chiapas and is a member of the National Front in the Struggle for Socialism. 

Since June 19, 2019, the Cerezo Committee in Mexico has issued urgent actions due to the constant attacks including persecution and pursuit against members of the FNLS, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests, assassination attempts, and executions. Such acts make clear the politics of repression against an organized effort of struggle through democratic and independent measures. 

On October 22, 2019, the indigenous grassroots organization National Front in the Struggle for Socialism urgently denounced the unjust, arbitrary arrest of Asunción and her husband, Venturino. 

A hearing for Asunción, in which her judicial situation should be legally defined, is scheduled for October 28th. 

We of  IM-Defensoras, the National Network for Women Human Rights Defenders, and the Cerezo Committee in Mexico reiterate our rejection of the unjust, baseless process of criminalization against Asunción Gómez Sanchez, and demand an immediate end to this process.  We exhort all human rights entities and the international community to join in this demand and to support and express solidarity with the defender.