Prosecutors in Mexico announced on Saturday night that they are dropping the charges against a woman who was given a six-year jail term for murdering a man as he was raping and attacking her.
A court in Mexico State declared in a verdict last week that while it acknowledged Roxana Ruiz, then 23, had been raped in 2021, it had judged her guilty of murder with “excessive use of legitimate defense.” This decision sparked a widespread outrage. Additionally, Ruiz was mandated to make damages totaling more than $16,000 to the family of her assailant.
Feminist organizations, who had backed Ruiz’s defense, vehemently objected to the decision, claiming it criminalized victims of sexual assault while shielding the offenders in a nation with a high rate of femicide and gender-based violence. In Mexico City, protesters held posters that said, “Defending my life isn’t a crime.”
After the court’s decision, Ruiz, an Indigenous woman and single mother, told reporters that she had received death threats as a result of the case and that she was concerned for the safety of her family, especially the life of her 4-year-old son.
“This isn’t justice,” she said. Remember that I was the one who was sexually raped by that guy and that I defended myself in order to avoid dying at his hands after he died.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had said at a morning news conference that he would seek to pardon Ruiz in response to the outcry. However, her attorneys said that receiving a pardon would mean Ruiz had to plead guilt while being 100 percent innocent.
Ruiz is a member of a vulnerable group, therefore the state prosecutor’s office announced in a news statement Saturday night that it had looked into the matter and determined she was “exempt from guilt.” The prosecutor’s office also said that they think she acted in self-defense.
Ruiz’s defense attorney, Angel Carrera, welcomed the news even though he said he hadn’t received official notice of the dismissal of the charges.
