MEXICO CITY, April 24 ― The government of Mexico plans to rally support from death penalty opponents to dissuade Malaysia from executing three Mexican brothers convicted on drug charges.
Mexico “will turn to various local and international groups opposed to the death penalty,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Malaysia’s Supreme Federal Court on Thursday upheld the death sentences imposed on Luis Alfonso, Simon and Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal.
The three men heard the court’s decision accompanied by relatives and by Mexico’s ambassador to Malaysia, Carlos Felix.
“We are in the final part of the judicial process. Today was a very serious setback,” Felix told Mexico City’s Radio Formula, adding that the defense team is considering filing a request for reconsideration by the Supreme Federal Court.
Once legal remedies are exhausted, the men’s only hope of avoiding the noose would be a royal pardon.
Felix said that the king in Johor state, where the men were convicted, can substitute a prison sentence for the death penalty on “strictly humanitarian grounds.”
Though Malaysia is a republic, traditional monarchs in the country’s various regions retain certain powers.
Malaysian jurisprudence offers no precedents for a case like this one and the process could grind on for another two years, the ambassador said.
“They won’t hang them in the next few days,” according to Felix, who has visited the three brothers monthly since his arrival in Malaysia 18 months ago.
Mexico “maintains a position contrary to the death penalty” and will continue providing consular assistance to the Gonzalez Villarreal brothers, the foreign ministry said.
The brothers, who range in age from 37 to 47, and two other men ― a Singaporean and a Malaysian ― were arrested in a December 4, 2008, raid that resulted in the seizure of 29 kilos (64 pounds) of methamphetamines worth RM44 million (US$15 million).
The three Mexicans testified at their May 2012 trial that they were merely cleaning the clandestine drug-making factory where they were detained.
None of the brothers has a criminal record in Mexico. ― Bernama
