Former Mexico ruling party governor Duarte jailed for nine years A former governor of Veracruz has been sentenced by a federal judge in Mexico to nine years in prison after pleading guilty for the crimes of criminal association and money laundering.
A court in Mexico also fined Javier Duarte 58,890 Mexican pesos ($3,123) on Wednesday, and seized 40 properties that, according to authorities, were adquired with resources from the state.
The former governor was in jail awaiting trial, so from the nine years he was sentenced, the court decided to also count the years he had already spent in there.
"It is impressive that Mexico is going through this, a huge country as it is, with a strong economy we live in an obscurantism," Lucy Diaz, leader of the Colectivo Solecito of Veracruz, an organisation that helps to find the disappeared people in Veracruz, told Al Jazeera
Duarte served as the governor of Veracruz from 2010 to 2016, was considered a luminary of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and president Enrique Pena Nieto referred to him as an example of a "new generation".
However, he became a symbol of corruption and dissapointment.
In October 2016, Duarte was forced from office, two months before the end of his six-year term on accusations of money laundering, corruption and mismanagement.The party expelled him and a judge issued an arrest warrant. He fled using a government helicopter, which prompted Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant against him.A reward of 15m pesos ($730,000) was also offered for his […]
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