Mexico official apologizes to 3 jailed indigenous women

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s attorney general formally apologized on Tuesday to three indigenous women who were jailed for years on kidnapping charges that were later dismissed.

Attorney General Raul Cervantes apologized after Mexican courts ordered the office to say it was sorry and make reparations for the women’s imprisonment.

The Otomi women were arrested in 2006 during an anti-piracy raid at a traditional open-air market staged after six federal investigators said they were held against their will by angry vendors. The three women were initially convicted and sentenced to 21 years for kidnapping.

Jacinta Francisco Marcial was freed in 2009 and Alberta Alcantara Juan and Teresa Gonzalez Cornelio were freed in 2010, after Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled there was insufficient evidence in the case. Critics charged that prosecutors fabricated evidence.