Mexico to reinvestigate Iguala mass kidnapping as gang leader released from prison

The Mexican gang leader blamed for ordering the killing of 43 student teachers has been released from prison as the new government demands the case be reinvestigated.

After years of stonewalling, Mexico will reinvestigate the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers in the city of Iguala.

Mexican prosecutors will investigate officials who under the previous government handled a “discredited” probe into the September 26 vanishings, which are said to have occurred under violent and chaotic circumstances, the Attorney-General’s office said.

Parents of some of the 43 missing teacher's college students sit behind posters depicting their missing loved ones. Picture: AP

The abduction and apparent massacre of the trainee teachers by corrupt police working with a drug gang sparked international condemnation of Mexico and seriously damaged the reputation of then-president Enrique Pena Nieto.

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A teacher throws stones at the building of the lawyer of the Mexican state of Guerrero, during a protest a year after the disappearance of 43 students. Picture: AFP

A riot police officer is surrounded in flames after a clash with protesters during a rally calling on Mexican authorities to continue searching for the students. Picture: Miguel Tovar/LatinContent/Getty Images

Last week, his successor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said the government would file a complaint to the Attorney-General over the release from prison of one of the main suspects behind the disappearances.

A judge ordered the release of Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, the gang leader blamed for ordering the killing of the students, after finding that officials had tortured him to obtain evidence.

In a statement, the Attorney-General’s office said that a special prosecutor’s office would present the necessary evidence so that the officials “who had failed in their duties” could be held accountable for their handling of the case.

Then-Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (R), accompanied by his cabinet. Picture: AFP

The previous administration’s investigation had been “permanently discredited” by both public opinion and relatives of the victims, the Attorney-General’s office said.

The UN human rights office said in a report last year that Mexican authorities had probably tortured dozens of people during the investigation. Pena Nieto’s popularity never fully recovered from the scandal, and a panel of independent experts picked holes in the official account of the investigation into the fate of the 43 students that was led by then-Attorney-General Jesus Murillo.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants answers as to why one of the key suspects behind the vanishings has been released from prison. Picture: AFP

That account stated the students were killed and then incinerated by gang members after their abduction in the southwestern city of Iguala. However, investigators have only definitively identified the remains of one of the 43 students.

Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, promised during his election campaign to launch a truth commission to find out what happened to the students.

Originally published as Mexico to reinvestigate Iguala mass kidnapping as gang leader released from prison