Mexico: Case withdrawn against woman who was sentenced for 6 years for killing her rapist

On Saturday, prosecutors in Mexico announced that they were withdrawing the case against the woman sentenced to six years for killing the man who had raped and attacked her. The ruling last week met with public backlash was the court in Mexico State ruled that 23-year-old Roxana Ruiz who was raped in 2021, was guilty of homicide with “excessive use of legitimate defence”. It further ordered Ruiz to pay more than $16,000 in reparations to the family of her attacker.

Ruiz is an Indigenous woman and a single mother to a four-year-old boy. Following the ruling against her, Ruiz had said that it was not justice. She further added that she is the one who was sexually assaulted by that man and “after he died because I defended myself … because I didn’t want to die by his hands.”

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had even responded to the public outcry over the ruling and said in a morning press briefing that he would seek to pardon the woman. However, Ruiz’s lawyers said that accepting the pardon would imply that Ruiz did commit a crime and emphasised that she is entirely innocent.


The ruling also triggered mass protests in the country with feminist groups demanding that Ruiz is innocent. In the aftermath, on Saturday night, the state Prosecutor’s Office said it had examined the case and considered that Ruiz is part of a vulnerable group and ruled that she was “exempt from guilt”. The statement further said that it believes Ruiz acted in self-defence.

Saturday’s announcement was celebrated by Ruiz’s defence lawyer, Angel Carrera. However, he noted that he was not notified about the development formally. As per the AP report, Carrera said that “It means that they’re recognizing her innocence” while noting that the ruling is a recognition that she acted in defending herself.

In May 2011, Ruiz was attacked and raped by a man, who was her friend and had allowed him to stay at her place after he requested a place to stay. In self-defence, Ruiz fought back and he threatened to kill her, then in the struggle, Ruiz managed to kill the man, according to Carrera.

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