A former mayor of the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico has been sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to involvement in the 2017 murder of journalist Miroslava Britz, her family’s lawyers said on Wednesday.
Hugo Amed Schultz was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined by a Chihuahua court, said Propuesta Civica, a legal aid organization that helped the journalist’s relatives.
Schultz, the former mayor of the city of Tsinipas, was arrested in December.
According to prosecutors, Schultz, a member of the conservative PAN party, had undertaken to “investigate and provide information” about Britz to the criminal organization that killed her.
Miroslava Bridge was assassinated in March 2017, after an article was published in La Jornada newspaper in which she wrote that criminals, members of various organizations, intended to run in the municipal elections.
In March 2020, one of the perpetrators of the murder, Juan Carlos Moreno, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Miroslava Bridge was known for her investigative reporting and her murder, with eight bullets to the head, sparked outrage in the country and abroad. The Bridget-Valdes Prize is awarded annually in Mexico, under the auspices of UNESCO, the La Jornada newspaper, the French Agency and many European embassies, in honor of Miroslava Bridges and Javier Valdes. The latest, also well-known journalist in northern Mexico, a correspondent for La Jornada and the French Agency, was assassinated in May 2017.
Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, as about 100 have been killed since 2000. In 2020 alone, seven murders were recorded.
