Judicial reform passed by House in Mexico

Mexico's lower house of Congress overwhelmingly approved a major reform of that country’s judicial system. By a vote of 462-6 (and two abstentions), the house backed the proposal which president Felipe Calderon said would allow for “greater transparency [and] much more agility.”

The bill needs to be further approved for it to go into effect, and includes provisions allowing for public oral trials and would guarantee the presumption of innocence. According to the New York Times, the house dropped a controversial part of the proposal that would have allowed searches without warrants:

Warrantless searches would have been allowed only in emergencies and in cases of hot pursuit of criminal suspects. But human rights groups had strongly opposed the measure, fearing that a police force notorious for corruption would abuse the authority.

One newspaper labeled the plan the “Gestapo law.”

The bill is part of a major anti-crime push initiated by the government nearly a year ago and which has had mixed results.

Sources- Xinhua, Associated Press, New York Times, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, Newsweek.com

Image- National Ledger