The parents of Marlon Botas, the alleged femicide of Montserrat Bendimes, have been released

Montserrat Bendimes was 20 years old when she died in hospital from a brutal beating in April 2021. Her body lasted six days connected to the machines at the medical center, but the injuries were too serious: multiple broken ribs, a fractured skull and internal spills. The main suspect in her death was always Marlon Boots, her partner at the time. It was his parents, Jorge No. and Diana No., who took Montserrat to the hospital, did so in their private car, without calling an ambulance. They left her at the door and left. The entire family, including Marlon, fled Veracruz. Little by little they were stopped. The last one was the alleged femicide. This Tuesday, Jorge and Diana, who are accused of omission of assistance, have been released.

This morning the Veracruz Prosecutor’s Office announced on social networks the release of the parents of Marlon Botas from prison, after the control judge granted them the conditional suspension of the process. This figure allows you to be released without going to trial if a series of conditions are met for a while and the process of damage repair begins. In this case, the control judge has imposed that for two years, Jorge and Diana must sign every 15 days in the Precautionary Measures Unit, hand over their passport to prevent them from leaving the country, not consume drugs or carry weapons, reside in a fixed place, submit to a psychological evaluation and stay away from the victim’s home. They must also pay 100,000 pesos (almost 6,000 dollars) in compensation. If they meet these conditions, the criminal case against them will be closed without the need for a sentence.

On April 14 of this year, a judge granted protection to Jorge and Diana, initially accused of covering up the femicide, and decided to acquit them for lack of evidence to prove their complicity in the crime. They were only released for a few hours, because the Prosecutor’s Office arrested them again, this time for a crime of omission of assistance. His now definitive release has generated much controversy in the feminist groups that have been asking for justice for Montserrat since 2021.

According to investigations by the Veracruz Prosecutor’s Office, Marlon’s parents helped him flee from the authorities. They were arrested in November 2021 and Marlon took another seven months. On June 3, 2022, the police detained Botas in Merida, Yucatan, after an intense search that led the Prosecutor’s Office even to ask Interpol for help.

The Veracruz authorities tightened the siege of the alleged murderer of Bendimes after a search at his grandmother’s house, in the Yucatecan capital. Despite staying a year away from justice, to dodge international arrest warrants, what lit the fuse of the Prosecutor’s Office was a video that the alleged femicide was recorded —and was broadcast on national television— in which he demanded the release of his parents, claimed that Montserrat’s death had been an accident and called for an end to “the hunt” against his family. After this message, the prosecutor of the State of Veracruz, Veronica Hernandez, sent a forceful message: “The administration of justice is not negotiated.”