Mexico frees man tortured into confessing to massacre

Mexico frees man tortured into confessing to massacre

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Mexico's Supreme Court ordered Wednesday the release of a man accused of taking part in the killing of 15 people at a party, arguing he was tortured into confessing.

The killing happened in Ciudad Juarez, a city in Chihuahua state on the US border and wracked by drug cartel violence.

Israel Arzate Melendez was arrested nearly four years ago over the January 2010 massacre.

After his release, Arzate Melendez said he was not even at the scene of the crime but rather at a different party when gunmen burst into the other one.

"I owe this to my mother, to my lawyers, who believed in my innocence," he said, before being transferred to Mexico City for his own safety at the request of his attorneys.

Four other men have been convicted of the massacre and sentenced to a total of 240 years in jail.

 

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