Suit for Indian massacre in Mexico dismissed over immunity

Tuesday, July 23, 2013  

The former president of Mexico can't be sued over a massacre at an Indian village in 1997, a federal judge in Connecticut ruled.

Ten survivors sued former president Ernesto Zedillo for $50 million, blaming him for the Acteal massacre of December 22, 1997. But the court said he was entitled to sovereign immunity as a former head of a government.

Some 45 people, including pregnant women and children, were killed in the massacre. It occurred at a church where people had gathered to support the Zapatista indigenous rights movement.

Zedillo was sued in Connecticut because he is a professor at Yale University.

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Conn. lawsuit is dismissed against ex-President Zedillo of Mexico over Acteal massacre (AP 7/22)