Trials of Mexican Roxana Ruiz, Convicted of Killing Her Rapist in Legal Defense and Finally Acquitted

“Emotion, emotion. This is what we have been fighting for these two years: for justice.”

Roxana Ruiz, a 23-year-old from Oaxaca in southern Mexico, is still digesting the news that changed her life this week after she was sentenced to six years in prison in 2021 for killing a rapist in self-defense. saw his case closed.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the same judge, who also imposed a 285,000 pesos ($16,134) fine on the man’s family, decided to justify it.

Her case sparked outrage across much of Mexico, a country bled dry by violence against women, with more than ten people killed every day. After pressure from social groups and media outcry, the Ruiz case took a 180-degree turn when the Mexican prosecutor’s office corrected its opinion.

“I was about to die. How is it that after sexually assaulting you, they throw you in jail for defending yourself and then demand that you make amends to the family of the guy who raped you? It’s unfair, it’s barbaric.”the girl asks in a conversation with BBC Mundo.

Although she celebrates her acquittal, the fight is not over for her.


The family of Sinai Cruz, the 22-year-old man whose life Ruiz took, said they would appeal the judgment before the deadline this Friday, although if it does, Ruiz will continue the process for free. Prior to the publication of this article, his lawyer had not been notified by the appellate court.

Possible family attraction

Cruz’s family protested this week against the woman’s release, chanting “Freedom, freedom to kill again” and “She’s not a hero, she’s a killer.”

“Do you think someone who is defensive, cuts off their victim in cold blood, keeps the body all day, and then wants to throw it away like it was anything? (…). Which, wherever you want to see it, is not a legal defense.” they told the Milenio newspaper.

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Various protests called for Ruiz’s acquittal.

The family, in their statements, refers to the behavior of Ruiz after the murder of a young man. According to a May 17 statement from the Mexico State Judiciary, “After the facts, she he stayed with the corpse for at least 20 hours.” and inflicted several wounds on him after his death: five wounds from 4 to 32 cm.

“The judge considered that Roxana’s guilt was aggravated by the fact that she tried to mutilate the body, place it in a plastic bag and go outside,” the text says.

While waiting to see if his family will appeal his acquittal, Ruiz says he is now more worried about the multiple threats he claims he has been receiving on the phone and on social media since the judge’s last decision was made public.


“I fear for my lifemy son, my family, my colleagues, the lawyer who represents me… His entourage incites hatred towards me in order to take revenge.”

Beginning of a nightmare

Ruiz, a young indigenous woman, was only 21 years old when the events took place that landed her in jail.

Previously, she managed to avoid an abusive relationship with the father of her son, whom she met in her teens. “I didn’t know how to recognize this domestic violence, I didn’t know what I was going through and for me it didn’t have a name.” recognize.

“What a surprise that once I managed to get out of it, and I almost died at the hands of a rapist.”

On that day in 2021, Ruiz was returning with his cart after selling French fries to his home in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico State, a municipality that has two warnings for murders of women and disappearances.

Poster supporting Roxanne Ruiz

AFP
Ruiz’s case caused a great resonance in Mexico and other countries.

Sinai Cruz, a young man whom she said she knew personally, offered to accompany her and insisted that she let him stay the night because he lives far away. Ruiz claims that she agreed to let her in out of fear and that while she was sleeping, he raped her.


It was when he woke up that he threatened to kill her if she didn’t let him continue to rape her until she suffocated him with a T-shirt and they fell to the ground, hitting him in the head, as he told various media throughout this time about that episode which he now prefers to avoid, to remember.

“This is a very painful page in my life, which is difficult for me to relive, because it was a nightmare, and I was on the verge of death (…). He abused my trust to the point of physical violence. I don’t want to remember anything about him.”

The young woman tried to carry the body out of the house, but was stopped on the street by the police and confessed to what she had done a few hours later.

Protest in favor of Roxana Ruiz

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Protests demanding justice for Roxana followed one after the other for several days after the news of the prison sentence became known.

“Overuse” of self-defense equipment

Ruiz states that even though she explained that she was defending herself because the man abused her, the authorities did not take this into account and did not include it in their statement. She also unsuccessfully asked the gynecologist to check on her to confirm what had happened.

She argues that “the gender perspective was not taken into account. They did not properly investigate and did not follow due process.”

Chance led her to stay in pre-trial detention for nine months. He recalls the prison as a place “very hostile and full of injustice, full of innocent women. It was psychologically very bad for me there and I was on the verge of a breakdown, I would not wish this on anyone.


He later continued the process at large until he received a big blow on May 15 when a judge gave him a six-year and two-month prison sentence.

Roxanne Ruiz

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The sentence of more than six years in prison was a big setback for the young woman.

“It didn’t occur to me that it all started with the offender, with the rapist. The supposed justice in Mexico is very cruel to women.”Mint.

The court found the violation, but found her guilty of “excessive use of self-defence.” “Roxanne knocked Sinai unconscious with a blow to the head and later strangled him. This blow was enough to contain the physical aggression which ended when he neutralized her,” the statement said.

“I said that they give me a book to read, which says how to properly defend yourself at the moment when a guy rapes you and threatens you with death. I don’t know how there will be people who protect him,” the girl replies.

The verdict caused such a stir that even the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, He was ready to consider the option of pardon. “We appreciated this gesture, but it was not an option, because a pardon is a forgiveness of a crime, and we will continue without admitting that I was a victim, and not vice versa,” says Ruiz.


A few days later, the Prosecutor General’s Office decided to drop the case as a prosecution party and admitted that it was “exempted from criminal liability, since it acted in legal defense.”

“It is unfair and barbaric that they put you in jail after sexually assaulting you for defending yourself”, Source: Roxana Ruiz, Description of the source: acquitted after being convicted of killing her rapist, Image: Roxana Ruiz

Raise your voice

At the moment, behind two long years of uncertainty, which were exhausting and stressful for a young woman. “Yes, the mood worsened, there was a lot of suffering,” he admits.

There were many bad moments during this period, but the re-victimization he endured from the start stands out. “I was told all the time that if he raped me, then it was my fault, what if at first I wanted to, and then didn’t want to … and therefore everything happened to me, ”he laments.

Ruiz is optimistic about the future along with his 5-year-old son, who currently lives in Oaxaca with his grandmother and hopes to meet soon.

“Having this, there is also a way to protect it, because among the threats that come to me these days, they ask me what will happen if they gave it to me piece by piece. It breaks my heart, it makes me panic and nervous,” she condemns in a broken voice.

Roxanne Ruiz

EPA
Ruiz denounces receiving death threats after his acquittal.

“Therefore, we call on the authorities to ensure our safety and hold the state and these people responsible if something happens to us,” he adds.

In this new life that is beginning, she would like to study psychology, but above all, she sees herself helping women who are in the same situation as her.

“To women who are going through something like this, I say that you should raise your voice. I know it’s not easy, but let’s not let them take over, we have the right to say no when we don’t want to,” he argues.

“Let’s not give them the peace of our silence. If it is difficult for the speakers to achieve justice, we are much more silent.

Protest in favor of Roxana Ruiz

AFP
Ruiz reflects on his future as part of the fight against violence against women.


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Author: BBC news world
Source: La Opinion

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