One of four people sought for the torture of a journalist in 2005 has been arrested and remanded for trial.

Juan Sánchez Moreno, a former official in the Puebla Attorney General’s Office, was arrested last week for the torture of celebrated investigative journalist Lydia Cacho.

Sánchez is one of four people for whom warrants were issued last month. The others are former Puebla governor Mario Marín, businessman Kamel Nacif and another former senior police official in Puebla, Hugo Adolfo Karam Beltrán.

Cacho was detained by Puebla police in Cancún in 2005 on defamation charges following the release of her book, The Demons of Eden, which exposed a pedophilia ring in Cancún allegedly run by businessman Jean Succar Kuri (who has been tried and convicted) with the participation of Kamel Nacif, the Puebla-based businessman known “the “denim king” for his large textile empire.

While held in custody, Cacho was tortured and threatened with rape in a case that became a national sandal when a tape was leaked of a conversation between Nacif and then-Puebla governor Marín plotting to prosecute Cacho as punishment for her book.

Cacho accused federal authorities last week of allowing Marín, Nacif and their accomplices time to escape by neglecting to issue a red alert through Interpol. She wrote on Twitter that the alert should have been issued on April 13, just after the arrests warrants were issued.

As of Sunday, there was no record of an Interpol alert for either ex-governor Marín or Nacif.

In August, the United Nations denounced the lack of justice for Cacho and demanded that the Mexican government apprehend those responsible for human rights abuses during her imprisonment.

Two police officers accused of torturing the journalist were arrested in August and December of last year, one of whom was sentenced to at least five years in prison.

Source: Reforma (sp), e-consulta (sp)