On October 19, 2001, leading human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa was found shot to death in her Mexico City office. Despite mounting evidence, including several death threats and previous attempts on her life, Mexico City prosecutors declared her death a suicide.

Ochoa, a former nun, was representing campesino ecologists from the state of Guerrero at the time of her death. In a previous case, she represented Zapatistas from the EZLN, winning their acquittal. Her primary work was that of a defense attorney at PRODH (Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez).

Family, friends, and former colleagues of Digna gathered today to declare her death unsolved, saying they intend to take her case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica.

Read more about Digna Ochoa

Lila Downs ♪ Dignificada

Photo: Speak Truth to Power