Published: September 8, 2012
MEXICO CITY — A former Mexican president who is now a scholar at Yale University should be immune from a civil lawsuit brought against him in the United States in connection with a 1997 massacre during his term, the State Department said Friday.
Lawyers for victims of the massacre, who brought the suit last September against the former president, Ernesto Zedillo, said Saturday that if a federal judge concurs, as they generally do, the decision “will prevent us from proceeding with the case against him and presenting proof of his responsibility.”
The State Department said Mr. Zedillo should have immunity because the suit, filed in federal court in Connecticut, concerned actions taken in his official capacity, which generally allow heads of state freedom from the hook of American courts. The filing noted that the Mexican government had asked that immunity be granted.
“The complaint is predicated on former President Zedillo’s actions as president, not private conduct,” Harold Hongju Koh, a State Department legal adviser and a professor at Yale Law School, wrote in a letter accompanying the filing. He said the complaint’s “generalized allegations” did not give the department any reason to rule differently.
The lawsuit, which alleges war crimes and crimes against humanity, has generated speculation in Mexico that it has more to do with settling political scores; Mr. Zedillo is abhorred by some members of his party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, for allowing reforms that contributed to its downfall in 2000.
