Migrant back home after 7 years in Mexico jail unsentenced

An Indigenous migrant who was accused of kidnapping and jailed in a northern Mexico border city has returned to her homeland of Guatemala as a free woman after spending more than seven years in prison without a sentence

GUATEMALA CITY -- An Indigenous migrant who was accused of kidnapping and jailed in a northern Mexico border city returned to her homeland of Guatemala on Sunday as a free woman after spending more than seven years in prison without a sentence.

A Mexican court ordered the immediate release of Juana Alonzo Santizo, 35, on Saturday.

The court ruled there was no consistent evidence against her, said Netzaí Sandoval, head of Mexico's federal public defenders office.

Sandoval, whose office took charge of defending Alonzo in 2021, contends she was tortured and forced to sign a confession that she did not understand because she couldn’t speak Spanish..