Earlier this year we told you about new evidence proving that the Mexican government under presidents Díaz Ordaz and Echeverría ordered the mass murder of thousands of dissidents during the country’s “dirty war” period in the 1960s and early 1970s. At that time, it was uncertain whether the state would be able to prosecute the aging Echeverría due to statutes of limitations. Now, in a final victory for Vicente Fox‘s outgoing administration (wow, he did one thing right), prosecuters have been cleared to arrest and try the 84-year old ex-president:

From the start, Ignacio Carrillo Prieto, the special prosecutor appointed to look into the dirty war, has pursued genocide charges under Mexican law in an effort to hold military and government officials responsible for the student massacre in 1968 and another in 1971. Some critics have said that to try to apply the genocide law to students as a group is a far-fetched legal approach that is bound to fail.

That criticism seemed to have been borne out last year when a lower court judge threw out the genocide charges against Mr. Echeverría, ruling that Mexico’s 30-year statute of limitations for mass murder had run out and that students could not be defined as a unified group under the genocide law.

Now, three appeals later, a tribunal has said the statute of limitations does not end until Friday, giving Mr. Carrillo Prieto’s office a last chance to put Mr. Echeverría on trial.

According to The New York Times, Echeverría’s attorney is pleased with the turn of events, as it will provide him the opportunity to prove that his client is innocent of genocide.

Back in July, Echeverría was placed under house arrest (image above) for his involvement in the Tlatelolco massacre of 1968, during which he was Mexico’s Interior Minister.

Via / New York Times

Images via Wikipedia and ElMundo.es