Mexico prosecutors drop charges against woman who killed her rapist as he attacked her
Roxana Ruiz (R), who was sentenced for murdering her rapist, participates in a protest in Mexico City, Mexico, on Friday. Demonstrators demanded that the sentence of six years and two months against Ruiz be reversed. Photo by Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA-EFE
May 21 (UPI) — Prosecutors in Mexico have dropped charges against a woman who was found guilty of killing a man as he raped her in 2021.
Roxana Ruiz Santiago, 23, was sentenced by the Prosecution Court of the Nezahualcóyotl Judicial District on May 15 to six years in prison for the crime of homicide after she killed her attacker, prosecutors said in a statement Saturday. She had also been ordered to pay $16,000 to her rapist’s family.
Her sentencing set off widespread backlash and protests in Mexico as feminist groups accused the government of criminalizing survivors of sexual violence — as prosecutors conducted a review of the case.
“It was determined that the conduct carried out by [Ruiz] during the events that were attributed to her, is exempt from criminal responsibility,” prosecutors said in a statement, adding that Ruiz had been acting “in self-defense.”
Prosecutors noted that self-defense is a circumstance that constitutes grounds for dismissal under the National Code of Criminal Procedures.
“The Attorney General of the State of Mexico endorses its commitment to investigate effectively, honestly, impartially, objectivity, professionalism, with a gender perspective and full respect for human rights in all investigations,” the statement reads.
Local reports in Mexico said that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had indicated he would pardon Ruiz, whose lawyer said she would refuse since a pardon would imply guilt and she did not commit a crime.
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