30 October 2013 
Mexican
President Enrique Pena Nieto says he will pardon an indigenous teacher serving
a 60-year jail term.
Alberto
Patishtan, 41, was convicted in 2002 for the murder of seven policemen in
southern Chiapas state during the Zapatista rebel uprising.
President
Pena Nieto said he would pardon him under a new law which widens the scope of
executive reprieves.
Human
rights groups have argued that Patishtan's trial was flawed and beset by
irregularities.
President
Pena Nieto said on his Twitter account that the pardon would come into effect
on Thursday, when the new law comes into force.
The
law, which allows for leniency in cases in which the convict's human rights are
considered to have been violated, was passed on Tuesday.
'Scapegoat'
Patishtan,
from the indigenous Tzotzil community, was arrested in 2000 following an ambush
in Chiapas in which seven police officers were killed.
He
has always denied the crime and his lawyers allege that testimony that he was
not at the scene of the ambush was not taken into account during his trial.
His
supporters say he was set up as a scapegoat at a time when Chiapas was the
scene of a conflict between the Mexican security forces and the Zapatista
National Liberation Army, a left-wing rebel group fighting for indigenous and
land rights.
Patishtan
is currently in hospital in the capital, Mexico City, where he is receiving
treatment for a brain tumour.
Speaking
to Spanish daily El Pais in March, he said he would not give up hope of being
freed from jail.
"I
am innocent; this is not the place for me, it's not my home, but I never think
of the time I have left [to serve] but that sooner or later I will regain my
liberty.”
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