October 18th marked six years since lawyer, feminist and Amuzga indigenous woman human rights defender, Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván, was arbitrarily detained, criminalised and unjustly sentenced to a total of more than 20 years in prison on eleven charges.
Kenia is an Amuzga woman and defender of land, territory, the rights of indigenous peoples and women’s rights. She is the Coordinator of the Zapata Vive Libertarian Collective, which promotes different forms of peaceful resistance against the implementation of capitalist development models.
The reason for her imprisonment? Exercising her legitimate right to protest and to defend human rights. Six years later, despite the fact that in April 2026 she was cleared of the eight federal charges against her, and despite warnings regarding the injustice of her case, from international organisations, human rights bodies and mechanisms, including the IACHR, the UN, as well as Mexican and European parliamentarians, Kenia remains in detention.
Over the past six years, Kenia has been separated from her young children and encarcerated in various prisons, including a maximum-security facility, CEFERESO 16, in the state of Morelos. Her rights have been continously violated, causing her to go on hunger strike on several occasions. It was particularly painful for her last year when her mother died. She was denied the right to attend the funeral and embrace her children, who had just lost the person caring for them ever since their mother was arbitrary detained.
Nevertheless, during this time, Kenia has not stopped defending her own rights or those of other female prisoners, nor has she stopped writing poetry to ensure her voice is heard beyond the prison walls. She has even set up a workshop in prison called "Weavers of Freedom". As well as sharing ancestral knowledge of weaving and beadwork with other women, it serves as a self-sustaining space and a form of occupational therapy for more than 30 women in custody, helping many of them to find new motivation and get closer to their sons and daughters.
In April 2026, the defender was cleared of the eight federal charges against her, with only two state-level cases pending in the State of Mexico. Regrettably, in July 2026, just when her release seemed closer than ever, one of the federal cases from which she had been acquitted was reopened following an appeal filed by the prosecution: Caminos y Puentes Federales (CAPUFE), a federal agency of the Mexican government.
This legal action challenges the Judge’s decision not to proceed with this case, on the premise that doing so would amount to criminalising the defence of human rights. In the Judge’s own words:"(...) the prosecution accuses Kenia of having ‘led a group of people to commit a crime’, but the only evidence it has produced is that Kenia is a leader; and having heard her, I have no doubt that Kenia is a natural leader, but to charge her simply for being a leader in her community would be to criminalise activism in Mexico, as so often happens, and that must begin to change in Mexico. We must start to rule with a human rights perspective.”
For Kenia, it has now been six years of sustained and prolonged injustice, of separation from her children, of being unable to freely carry out her tireless work and commitment to the defence of human rights. However, it has also been six years of receiving support, solidarity and recognition from many people, organisations and collectives in Mexico, Latin America and across the globe. That is why, now more than ever, we must continue to express and convey solidarity with her and her family, and demand that the authorities and relevant bodies release her immediately and close the cases against her.
FREEDOM FOR KENIA NOW!
Signed by:
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Asociación por la paz y los derechos humanos Taula per Mèxic
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CIVICUS, Global Alliance for Citizicen Participation
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ESCR-Net – International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
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Femena
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Front Line Defenders
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Global Witness
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International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.
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Latinas en Poder International
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Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras)
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Nobel Women’s Initiative
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Plataforma por la Paz y los Derechos Humanos México – Unión Europea
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The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in South West Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)
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Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRDIC)
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Women's International Peace Centre
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World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.
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