When will Free’s hostage ordeal in Cancun jail end? December 4, 2010

On the morning of October 11th, 2009, Alain Ferrat Mancera, Cancun city councillor for Tourism and leader of the Green Party in the state, had an innocent foreigner accused for attacking his brother Ivan Ferrat Mancera. The accusation was necessary because Ivan had hurt himself while attacking that foreigner, and the insurance company would only pay for Ivan’s hospitalization costs if he had been the one attacked. Ivan had been brought in a conscious state to the hospital, with a broken nose and a slight concussion, but before the day was over a picture of multiple wounds and fractures of the skull and face had been crafted with expert help. According to the medical reports, he was in a coma and his life was in danger. Several people were recruited to give false testimony about the fight. The foreigner was identified as Free Bronkhorst, the story and his picture broadcast over the local media, and in record time, Free to his astonishment was arrested and imprisoned, without bail, on charges that could land him up to 13.5 years in jail.

In December 2009, Free’s mother, Ana, who had come from Europe push for his release, was kidnapped in broad daylight. The kidnappers told her they were to kill her. But before they could execute their plan, police located them and, after a chase through the suburbs of Cancun, they were captured. The local media happened to capture part of the police chase and Ana’s dramatic rescue on tape. From that moment on, the press followed the case with interest and took Alain Ferrat Mancera to task for the malicious way he used his influence to have Free incarcerated. Day after day, the papers reported statements from the governor, the prosecutor, Free, his mother, Ivan, and European diplomats, until Alain realized things had gotten out of hand. He had his brother Ivan hold a press conference where he forgave Free and offered him a pardon, so that Free could regain his freedom. The following day, December 15, Ivan went to court and made a statement claiming he no longer held Free responsible for the damages he had caused him, opening the way for Free’s release from jail. Fate seemed to have come to Free’s rescue.

But the joy of imminent freedom was short lived. One week later, on December 22, Ivan went to court to retract his statement of the 15th, explaining that his insurance company might take him to court. Even though Alain Ferrat Mancera had expressed a few days earlier his regrets for Free’s incarceration, from this moment on, the accusers did everything in their power to prolong Free’s detention. One of their favourite tactics was not to show up in court for scheduled appearances so that the judge would have to call them again, three months later. Then, as Free’s family and friends did not stop protesting in various European cities, which was recorded in the Mexican press and commented on by the locals, the Ferrat family decided to sit down with them and try to solve this problem. After more than a month of talks, Free’s family had accepted that they would pay for all of Ivan’s hospital bills and bills for costs still to incur. But when the Ferrats made other outrages demands and would give nothing in return, it became clear that they were not really interested in a deal, but had made moves towards settlement only because they needed a month without protests in order for Alain Ferrat to be able to make an electoral pact with the PRI party for the upcoming state elections.

During this period, Free’s lawyer, Gerardo Solis Barreto, was kidnapped and told not to defend Free anymore. Free got a new lawyer, Fernando Lechuga, from Mexico City, eager to make a name for himself in Cancun. He had an expert study the surveillance video of the night of the violent attack, who then concluded that Free had been attacked by Ivan and his friend. Against the will of Ivan and his family, x-rays of Ivan’s face and his skull were taken on September 3, 2010. The result was outrageous: there had been no fracture of the jaw or the occipital-parietal part and the base of the skull or the mastoids, as the accusers had alleged. The entire clinical report submitted to the court by them was found to be a fabrication designed to put Free in jail. They had been hoping the defence wouldn’t have the necessary resources, as so often happens in Mexico, for the various expert opinions needed to refute the accusation. Even the conclusions of the prosecution’s forensic physician, doctor Fernando Salgado Contreras, were shown by the defence’s medical expert to be inventions, based on the need to assure Free’s incarceration rather than on sound medical evaluation.

As we write this, on December 4, 2010, Free is still in jail. At least for another six months, maybe a year - and that is if he gets acquitted - because justice must run its slow course. That is, if you’re not a politician or other local big shot.  Government officials and diplomats of all colours and from half a dozen European countries have expressed their concern to the Mexican authorities about this case, asking them to make sure Free gets a fair and speedy trial, always stressing the point that they don’t want to interfere in the internal affairs of the Mexican justice system. We, Free’s family and friends, we are not government and therefore are not obliged by international diplomatic etiquette. We are the people! We see our family member and friend being railroaded into jail, where he is being held hostage by a local politician who abuses his power and his knowledge of his nation’s judicial system for personal gain. Therefore we demand a correct application of justice, an immediate end to this officially sanctioned kidnapping and the punishment of the real criminals. We invite you to add your voice to support Free’s liberation by signing the petition to Mrs. Espinosa, president of COP16 and minister of foreign affairs of Mexico.

Viva México, viva Free libre.